Getting to Know the Tuskegee Airmen

Many believe the success of the Tuskegee Airmen led to the desegregation of the United States military.

Initially, President Donald Trump’s administration eliminated the story of the Tuskegee Airmen in a video shown to members of the Air Force in his broader efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Then that cancelation was canceled, and the Tuskegee Airmen once again existed in the minds of some Americans.

However, RegalMag.com will never cancel the exploits, significance, and heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen.

So, just in case schools and the government attempt to rewrite American history, why not look to RegalMag.com for write-ups on African-American heroes who shaped and saved America?

Lesson one: the Tuskegee Airmen.

The African American Encyclopedia wrote that the Tuskegee Airmen were “African Americans trained at Tuskegee Institute during World War II to become pilots in the U.S. Air Force. In early 1941, responding to pressure from African American organizations, the Army established a special unit at Tuskegee to train African American pilots. Despite racism that hampered their training, the Tuskegee Airmen, who eventually served in the Ninety-ninth and three other fighter squadrons, became distinguished pilots during World War II.”

But what made the Tuskegee Airmen so important to the Greatest Generation?

RegalMag.com went directly to the official Tuskegee University website to learn more about the brave men who helped save the world from tyranny, racism and anti-Semitism.

• The Tuskegee Airmen volunteered to serve their country during World War II.
• The future airmen had to qualify physically and mentally before being accepted into cadet training.
• The military chose Tuskegee, Ala., for the training site because Tuskegee University had previously invested money into building an airfield and had a respected civilian pilot training program.
• Graduates of the pilot training program at Tuskegee had achieved the highest flight aptitude examinations.
• Initially, the all-African-American 332^nd Fighter Group included four squadrons: the 99^th, the 100^th, the 301^st and 302^nd.
• Approximately 1,000 African-Americans trained at Tuskegee between 1941 and 1946.
• The Tuskegee Airmen were well-respected for their feats escorting fighter pilots in World War II.
• The Tuskegee Airmen had one of the lowest loss rates of all the escort fighter groups.
• The 99^th Squadron received two Presidential Unit Citations, one in June-July 1943 and another in May 1944. They received the awards for outstanding tactical air support and aerial combat in the 12^th Air Force in Italy.
• The 99^th Squadron eventually joined the 332^nd Fighter Group.
• The 332^nd Fighter Group won the Presidential Unit Citation for its longest bomber escort mission in the German capital of Berlin on March 24, 1945.
• During the Berlin mission, the group, then known as the “Red Tails,” destroyed three German ME-262 jet fighters.
• The “Red Tails” also damaged five other fighter jets during the Berlin mission.
• The story of the “Red Tails” became a major motion picture in 2012 starring Terrence Howard, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo and Academy Award winner, Cuba Gooding, Jr. (“Jerry Maguire”).
• In 1995, HBO released a movie entitled “The Tuskegee Airmen” starring an all-star cast with Laurence Fishbourne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance, Gooding, John Lithgow and Mekhi Phifer.
• Additionally, the late Andre Braugher starred as the legendary Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. in “The Tuskegee Airmen.”
• Davis was the commander-in-chief of the Tuskegee Airmen (“Red Tails”).
• Houston has a high school in the Aldine Independent School District named in honor of Davis.
• Alfred “Chief” Anderson received his pilot’s license in 1929, becoming the first African-American to receive a commercial pilot’s certificate in 1932.
• Anderson also became the first African-American to make a transcontinental flight.
• When former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wanted to encourage former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to let African-Americans train to be pilots in Tuskegee, Anderson was the pilot who took the former first lady in the air.
• In 1948, former President Harry S. Truman implemented Executive Order No. 9981, which sought equal treatment in opportunity in all branches of the United States Armed Forces.
• In 1998, the United States Congress authorized $29 million to establish a Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.
• The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site was a partnership with Tuskegee Airmen, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. and the National Park Service.
• According to Tuskegee University’s website, only $3.6 million has been allocated for the project.
• Some called the Tuskegee Airmen the “Red-Tail Angels.”
• In totality, the Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, teachers, crew chiefs and cooks.
• Many believe the success of the Tuskegee Airmen led to former President Truman desegregating the military.
• The Tuskegee Airmen received the assignment of protecting American bombers from enemy fighters.
• The “Red Tails” destroyed 261 enemy aircraft.
• The American heroes also won more than 850 medals.

According to the Air Force Historical Support Division, “Those air crew and ground crew personnel associated with Black flying units of the Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II are known as the Tuskegee Airmen. On 16 January 1941, Secretary of the Army Henry L. Stimson authorized the formation of a Black pursuit squadron. The 99^th Pursuit (later Fighter) Squadron was activated in March 1941 and began training in separate facilities at Tuskegee, Alabama, on 15 November. The 99^th Squadron equipped with Curtiss P-40s and later Bell P-39s, was sent to French Morocco in April 1943, and it continued combat service from bases in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. In February 1944, the 99^th Squadron was joined by three other fighter squadrons, the 100^th, the 301^st, and the 302^nd, and all four squadrons constituted the 332^nd Fighter Group, commanded by Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.”