The Tuskegee Airmen

From Bill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac:

During World War II, the U.S. military had a policy of racial segregation. Blacks trained and fought in separate units from whites. Before 1941 blacks weren’t allowed to serve as pilots. Many people said they weren’t smart or disciplined enough to fly combat aircraft. But that year, under pressure from black leaders and Congress, the Army Air Corps opened an air base in Tuskegee, Alabama, and began to train black airmen.

The Tuskegee Army Air Base trained not only pilots but navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, and all the other personnel needed to keep planes in the air. Soon the Tuskegee Airmen were proving that they could fly aircraft as well as anyone else. Still, some people asked, “How will they do in combat?”

Beginning in 1943, the Army sent 450 Tuskegee pilots to North Africa and Europe to fight in the war. They flew fighters that escorted bombers over enemy territory. The Tuskegee Airmen painted the tails of their fighters red, and as their reputation for protecting planes grew, bomber crews started asking for the “Red Tail Angels” as escorts.

The Tuskegee Airmen flew hundreds of missions and rarely lost a bomber they were assigned to protect from enemy fire. Many became decorated war heroes. About 150 Tuskegee pilots lost their lives in combat or in accidents.

In 1946, after the war was over, training at Tuskegee ended. By then 992 pilots had graduated from the program. They had shown the world they could fly with the best, and their superb record paved the way for ending racial discrimination in the military.

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