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The pre-World War II white sky -

The history of American aerial combat before World War II was almost exclusively a history of white pilots. While African Americans had been permitted to enlist in the military since the days of Abraham Lincoln, their opportunities within the Armed Forces were still severely limited and their skills simultaneously undervalued and exploited.

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Eugene Bullard -

The first African-American pilot to serve in any military was Eugene Bullard, born in Georgia in 1895. Barred from enlisting in the United States Armed Forces, Bullard traveled to France, where he served first in the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion and later in the French Air Service during World War I. Bullard was awarded no less than 14 medals and honors from the French military for his dedicated service and numerous acts of valor.

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The fight for an integrated Army Air Corps -

In the years between World War I and World War II, many prominent members of the African-American community fought for Black men's rights to serve in the Army Air Corps, which would turn into the Army Air Force in 1941. Champions of the cause included Walter White, then-president of the NAACP, and Asa Philip Randolph (pictured), a labor leader who established America's first successful black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

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Segregated squadrons -

In 1939, the Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress, establishing for the first time funding for the express purpose of training African-American pilots. Preexisting regulations within the War Department, however, required that these black pilots be segregated from white pilots, and under the command of white officers.

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The Civilian Pilot Training Program -

Some of these funds went to the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), a preexisting project that trained civilians to fly planes without enlisting them in the military, although the assumed purpose was to expand the country's reserve of pilots ready to be enlisted at a moment's notice.

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The Tuskegee Institute -

The Tuskegee Institute, a legendary black college in Alabama founded by cultural leader Booker T. Washington, began to establish pilot training programs in conjunction with the CPTP and the Army Air Corps. It was in Tuskegee that the 1,000 or so pilots who would come to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen were trained, and where they borrowed their name.

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Exclusionary testing -

With military opinion not yet caught up to the federal legislation, extremely difficult and exclusionary testing procedures were put in place in the hopes of deterring the majority of black training applicants. These testing procedures were starkly reminiscent of earlier Jim Crow voting registration tests, put in place to legally allow African Americans to vote, but effectively prevented them from registering with outrageous and deceitful 'literacy' tests.

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Coming out on top -

Despite the military's best efforts, droves of black applicants overcame the restrictive testing procedures and were accepted into Tuskegee's training programs. Some Tuskegee veterans, such as Coleman Young, who would later go on to become Detroit's first black mayor, cited Jim Crow and racial ostracization as driving factors in the Tuskegee Airmen's success: "They made the standards so high, we actually became an elite group ... We were unquestionably the brightest and most physically fit young blacks in the country."

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The formation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron -

In March of 1941, just three months before the Army Air Corps was reestablished as the Army Air Forces, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was formed, based in Tuskegee. It was the first all-black air squadron in American history.

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The flight of Eleanor Roosevelt -

Early on in the life of the 99th Squadron, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (pictured center) visited Tuskegee and was flown around the area by Alfred Anderson (pictured right), Tuskegee's chief civilian flight instructor. Mrs. Roosevelt, who was thrilled by the experience, caused a storm of positive publicity to form around the pilots training in Tuskegee.

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Alfred "Chief" Anderson -

Affectionately known as Chief, Alfred Anderson is commonly referred to as the Father of Black Aviation. A licensed pilot since 1929, Anderson was a practically self-taught aviator, as very few instructors would agree to teach a black man how to fly. Anderson was recruited by the Tuskegee Institute to develop their training program, and was named by the Army as Tuskegee's Commander and Chief Instructor of the 99th Squadron.

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The first black officers of the Army Air Forces -

By the summer of 1941, the 99th Squadron consisted of 271 enlisted black men in training. Five young cadets, some of whom are pictured above, were admitted into the Army's Officers Training School. When they came out the other side, they were the first black officers in the history of the Army Air Forces.

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The 99th Squadron's first combat mission -

The United States Army finally considered the 99th Squadron's training complete in April 1943. It was time for the Tuskegee Airmen's first taste of combat. The young pilots were deployed to Morocco, where they operated under the wing of the 33rd Fighter Group.

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Operation Corkscrew -

The 99th Squadron took to the air in June 1943, as part of Operation Corkscrew. Their mission was to clear the path from Morocco to Italy by neutralizing the small island of Pantelleria. With shockingly little direction from the 33rd's command, the Tuskegee Airmen successfully brought the fascist presence on Pantelleria, over 11,000-strong, to a surrender. It was the first time in history that an aerial assault led to the surrender of a grounded force.

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The 332nd Fighter Group -

In 1944, the 99th Squadron joined the 100th, 301st, and 302nd Tuskegee squadrons to form the 332nd Fighter Group, the first all-black fighter group of its kind.

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Colonel Benjamin Davis Jr. -

The 332nd Fighter Group operated under the command of one Colonel Benjamin Davis Jr., who went on to become the first black brigadier general in history. Over the course of his military career, which started in the first wave of Tuskegee Airmen to see combat, Colonel Davis participated in no less than 60 combat missions.

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The Red Tail Angels -

The Tuskegee Airmen's immediate and resounding success as combat aviators garnered them deep respect in many corners of the military, although there was still vast amounts of racism within the Army's ranks and leadership. Their high success rates and impressive skill as bomber escorts earned them the name of the Red Tail Angels, alluding to the characteristic red rear wings on the planes flown by the Tuskegee pilots.

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Bomber escorts -

Most of the 332nd Group's missions involved escorting large and vulnerable bomber planes to their targets. For years, it was said that the 332nd never lost a single bomber during their 179 escort missions.

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An impeccable record -

While this assumption has since been debunked, it has been proven that of the 35 missions during which the 332nd encountered enemy aircraft, only seven of those resulted in the loss of a bomber.

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Expert dogfighters -

The pilots of the 332nd were formidable foes in the sky. During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen destroyed a total of 262 enemy aircraft, 112 of which were destroyed in aerial combat. The 99th Squadron, under the umbrella of the 332nd Group, broke records by destroying five enemy planes in less than four minutes, and destroyed three German jet fighters in a single day. These were some of the first jet planes ever encountered in combat, and were exponentially faster than the planes flown by the 332nd.

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The Luftwaffe's worst nightmare -

For a relatively small group of only 355 pilots total, the Tuskegee Airmen wreaked astounding havoc upon the Axis powers. Some 600 rail cars carrying valuable supplies and munitions were destroyed from the air by the Red Tails, and hundreds more vehicles, tanks, boats, and torpedo vessels.

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The Tuskegee bombers -

In the wake of the quick and impressive success of the Tuskegee escort pilots, a bomber regiment began training back in Alabama. In May of 1943, the 616th Bombardment Squad was established and put into training, but never saw combat.

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Charles McGee -

The scores of Tuskegee Airmen who fought bravely and effectively in World War II all deserve, and for the most part received, proper recognition, but there are a few who stand out as exceptional in a sea of exceptional people. One is Charles McGee, who was first deployed in 1943 as part of the 332nd Group. When McGee finally retired from service as a colonel in 1973, he had flown in no less than 409 combat missions over the course of three wars, more than any other pilot in American history.

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Daniel "Chappie" James -

Daniel James, who went by the nickname Chappie, was never actually deployed during World War II, but instead stayed in Alabama as an instructor. During the Korean and Vietnam wars, however, James flew in 101 and 78 combat missions, respectively, eventually making him the first black four star general in American history.

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Roscoe Brown -

The recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Roscoe Brown (center) was one of the most successful and respected pilots of the 332nd escort group. He has been called a "savior" by some bomber pilots he protected, who said at the time they had no idea their "red-tailed angels" were African American. After the war, Brown worked tirelessly as an educator, a social reformer, and as the primary nurturer of the Red Tails' place in history.

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Lucius Theus -

The third black man in American history to earn the rank of general, Lucius Theus was also an important and effective personnel officer after World War II. In particular, General Theus was instrumental in easing tensions after the 1971 Travis Air Force Base race riot.

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Lee Archer -

Lee Archer, who eventually achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, flew in no less than 169 missions during World War II, ranging from escort to reconnaissance to ground assault. Archer was also one of only four Tuskegee Airmen to destroy three enemy aircraft during a dogfight in a single day.

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The success of the Red Tails by the numbers -

While the Tuskegee Airmen's countless stories of bravery and valor deserve to be told, they aren't necessary to see why the are some of the most celebrated pilots in history; the numbers alone show that much. In total, the 332nd Group and the squadrons it encompassed accumulated a total of three Distinguished Unit Citations, 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses awarded to 95 different pilots, and 744 Air Medals.

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The Tuskegee Airmen after World War II -

The legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen has left an indelible mark in the history of the United States. Many of its members survived into old age and were front and center for matters of equal opportunity and the breaking down of racial barriers. Several entered the political theater, serving as judges and heading committees, while others stayed in the military to further structural change. In 2007, the Tuskegee Airmen as a whole were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Sources: (History) (PBS) (Britannica)

See also: Defining moments in black history

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