The Tuskegee Airmen
It’s 1940 and America is at war. The US is heavily engaged fighting the Hitler’s Nazi regime in Europe, and battle in the Pacific with Japan is an ever-present possibility (the US wouldn’t formally fight the Japanese until the following year). Thousands of men from across the nation are drafted to enter the battle. Many of them are placed into the Air Force.
At the same time, a, battle is being fought domestically - against racism. The rumblings of the Civil Rights movement are beginning to be felt. During the First World War, Black men tried to become aerial observers from the Army’s Air Corp - they were rejected because the Jim Crow laws, a series of racist laws that enforced the “separate but equal” treatment of African Americans, were used as justification for blocking previous attempts by African American soldiers to become pilots.
As the Second World War broke out, prominent Civil Rights activists, like Walter White (not the Breaking Bad guy) of the NAACP pushed hard for Black people to be allowed to serve. The Air Corps initially rejected this notion, citing the belief that Black people “lacked qualifications” for the job. However, pressure is being applied from all sides. Many of the White soldiers that could serve in the Air Corps already were in it. The Air Force war running out of options. Enter: the Tuskegee Airmen.
As the Air Corps was running out of options, Congress ordered them to onboard a group of Black men to fill the gap. The Air Corps wasn’t going to simply train them. They were determined to prove their insanely racist ideology. In the days following the announcement, thousands of Black men signed up. A cadre of 14 were selected, and sent to Montgomery, Alabama, to the Army’s Psychological Research Center. They were put through a battery of “intelligence” tests, most of which were virtually impossible to pass. The purpose was to disqualify them and tell Congress “look, Black people can’t serve because they’re not smart enough.” The men pulled through.
Lt. Coleman Young had this to say about the tests: "They made the standards so high, we actually became an elite group. We were screened and super-screened. We were unquestionably the brightest and most physically fit young blacks in the country. We were super-better because of the irrational laws of Jim Crow. You can’t bring that many intelligent young people together and train 'em as fighting men and expect them to supinely roll over when you try to (BLEEP) over 'em, right?
After passing the psychological and physical testing, they were transferred to Monton Field, in Tuskegee, Alabama (the namesake of their unit), where a group of trainers were assigned to teach the men to fly.
The new flight program at Tuskegee received a publicity boost when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt inspected it on 29 March 1941, and flew with African-American chief civilian instructor C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson. Anderson, who was responsible for training thousands of rookie pilots, took Fist Lady Roosevelt on a 30 minute flight around Tuskegee After landing, she cheerfully announced to the crowd of reporters, “Well, you can fly all right!”
On 22 March 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated with pilots at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois. It was America’s first squadron with Black pilots. It was made up of entirely Black pilots and staff. The program ballooned with the newfound federal support, and people came through with thousands of dollars of donations. The Tuskegee Airmen became a symbol in the Black community, and the United States Army took advantage of that with posters like this:
For those who don’t know, war bonds were debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations during times of war, encouraging citizens to lend money to support the war effort.
The 332nd Fighter Group, the second all Black Air Corps group was sent out to the Adriatic Coast of Italy, based out of Rametelli Airfield in 1944. They did strategic bombing runs in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Germany. They were critical in the liberation of the Auschwitz - Birkenau concentration camps, alongside their Soviet counterparts.
Per the Tuskegee University
- 1578 combat missions, 1267 for the Twelfth Air Force; 311 for the Fifteenth Air Force
- 179 bomber escort missions, with a good record of protection, losing bombers on only seven missions and a total of only 27, compared to an average of 46 among other 15th Air Force P-51 groups
- 112 enemy aircraft destroyed in the air, another 150 on the ground and 148 damaged. This included three Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters shot down
- 950 rail cars, trucks and other motor vehicles destroyed
- One torpedo boat put out of action. TA22 was an Italian World War I-era destroyer (Giuseppe Missori), that had been seized by the Germans and put into service. It was attacked on 25 June 1944, and damaged so severely. She was never repaired. She was decommissioned on 8 November 1944, and finally scuttled on 5 February 1945.
- 40 boats and barges destroyed
Contrary to negative predictions from the highest echelons of the Air Corps, Tuskegee Airmen were some of the best pilots in the U.S. Army Air Forces. The Tuskegee Airmen continued to have to fight racism. Their combat record did much to quiet those directly involved with the group, but other units continued to harass these airmen.
In 1949, the 332nd entered the annual U.S. Continental Gunnery Meet in Las Vegas, Nevada. The competition included shooting aerial and ground targets and dropping bombs on targets. After segregation in the military was ended in 1948 by President Harry S. Truman with Executive Order 9981. Some Tuskegee veterans taught in civilian flight schools, such as the black-owned Columbia Air Center in Maryland, the first of its kind.
As of July 2024, only 3 Tuskegee Airmen are still alive - Oscar Lawton Wilkerson Jr, Charles McGee, and Col. James H. Harvey. They are all over 100 years old.
