February is Black History Month, and to celebrate this year, we are recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen. Although you may know that they were the first Black aviators in the US military, there is a lot people don’t know about this heroic group.
- They were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama- which is how they got their name the “Tuskegee Airmen”
- They were formed by the War Department in January 1941
- They were known as the 99th Pursuit Squadron by the US Army Air Corps (later the US Army Air Forces)
- The Tuskegee Air Field was opened in July 1941, with the first class graduating the following March
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was the squadron’s commander
- Davis is best known for becoming the US Air Force’s first African American general
- In 1943, they were deemed ready for combat and were sent to North Africa and the Mediterranean
- In 1944, pilots from the 99th Squadron shot down 12 German fighter planes in two days
- That same year, the 100th, 301st, and 302nd Squadrons arrived in Europe
- The 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302nd Squadrons made up the 332nd Fighter Group
- The 332nd began to escort heavy bombers deeps into enemy territory
- The tails of their planes were painted red for identification, earning them the nickname “Red Tails”
- There were rumor that in their 200 escort missions they never lost a bomber, however that was later debunked
- Around 25 bombers they escorted were shot down- with is half as many as other escort groups
- The 332nd flew their last combat mission in April 1945, two weeks before Germany surrendered
- In their two years of combat, they are flown more than 15,000 sorties on over 1,500 missions
- They destroyed over 250 German planes both on the ground and in the air, and nearly 1,000 rail cars and transport vehicles
- During World War II, 66 Tuskegee aviators were killed in action with 32 being captured as POWs
- It was not until July 1948 that President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the US Armed Forces
- In 2007, more than 300 of the original Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor from George W. Bush
