The Tuskegee Airmen The United States Air Corps had an age-old policy of not allowing Negroes into the Air Force. Before the 1930s, civil rights for colored people was not of national interest. The Air Force couldn’t be compelled to be open their ranks on even a segregated basis. It wasn’t until the mid-late 1930s that the Negroes could actually fight for their country in aerial battle. Eventually, the Air Corps grudgingly agreed to open up a training facility to train qualified Negro pilots for combat roles. (Loeser.Us) On March 19, 1941, the U.S. War Department established the 99th Pursuit Squadron, which along with a few other squadrons formed later, became better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Consisting of America’s first black military pilots, these units confronted racism at home in addition to the enemy abroad. Yet despite the extra obstacles, they would go on to compile an exemplary record in the Mediterranean and European theaters of World War II and pave the way for desegregation of the military. Find out how this legendary unit came into being. Overall, 992 pilots completed the Tuskegee training program, nearly half of whom were then shipped overseas, where they gained fame for their unparalled success at escorting boombers on long-range raids deep into Nazi-controlled territory. Flying some 1600 missions …show more content…
Today it is difficult to conceive that an “experiment” was needed to prove that African-Americans are as capable as whites, especially in view of General Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the black astronauts and the veterans of Korea, Vietnam, and The Persian Gulf, all of whom have made outstanding contributions in military service. The army didn’t know it at the time, but they had produced in the Tuskegee Airmen a powerful force that indeed worked to destroy the racial barriers the military and the nation were so reluctant to pull down on their