Tuskegee Airmen

The first time African American where employed by the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt order the Air Corps to create/build an all African American unit for flying. They created the 99^th Pursuit Squadron to develop the new African American pilots to train at the central base in Alabama at the Tuskegee Institute. These pilots faced racism from White Americans and the Nazi military. First fighter mission took place June of 1943 in Farjouna in Tunsia.

The following is a list of the combat record of the Tuskegee Airmen:

• over 15,000 combat sorties (including 6000+ for the 99th prior to July '44)
• 111 German airplanes destroyed in the air, another 150 on the ground
• 950 railcars, trucks, and other motor vehicles destroyed
• 1 destroyer sunk by P-47 machine gun fire (Lt. Pierson's flight)
• sixty-six pilots killed in action or accidents
• thirty-two pilots downed and captured, POWs
• 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses earned
• 744 Air Medals
• 8 Purple Hearts
• 14 Bronze Stars

In January take the time to find out more about these famous black fighter pilots by watching George Lucas’s move on the History Channel. A documentary on the History Channel on the War World II Tuskegee Airmen or better yet set out to the movie theater on January 13 to watch Red Tails.

Reference

Sherman, S. (February 2000. Updated June 29, 2011) The Tuskegee Airmen, Acepilots.com. Retrieved from http://acepilots.com/usaaf_tusk.html