As the Month of February draws to an end, we can often take for granted the freedom us as Americans are accustomed too and the liberties which have been exalted amongst us. In times like this we ought to look back at the very people who made such freedom possible even if they themselves weren’t given the very same liberty.
In celebration of our black brothers and sisters we dedicate this piece to the Tuskegee airmen dog fighters who were the only black Air Force unit during WW2 comprised of 992 individuals. Forming the 332nd fighter group and 477th bombardment group in the United States Air Force.
3 years after the end of WW1 the a 1920s War Department report stated that blacks weren’t intelligent or disciplined enough to fly a plane. So to challenge this WW2 era Civil rights leaders pressured the US Military to allow for black pilots to join its ranks, eventually Eleanor Roosevelt pushed her husband into passing a bill to put in place the first black Air Force school at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The school was opened as an experimental training ground for the effectiveness and potential of black pilots.
“It was programmed to fail,” said [Tuskegee Airman Yenwith] Whitney, noting that the school was set up as a tool to back up the findings of the 1920s War Department report stating that blacks weren’t smart enough or disciplined enough to fly a plane. However they were shown to far exceed expectations and utterly disproved the 1920 report. Secretary of war Henry Stimson had deep reservations against the Tuskegee airmen viewing them as a politically motivated gimmick destined to embarrass the Air Force and America as a whole.
The Tuskegee Airmen were sent to Liberia for they were still seen as inferior and were assigned missions that were considered “out of the way”. The Air Force Base at which they stayed was segregated much like most places were at the time, with bathrooms being designated for both races as well as cafeterias and housing. Work was made up mostly of escort missions which were farther from the main German force. Soon after this the axis powers began ramping up aggression in northwest Africa, and the US needed every hand on deck reluctantly bringing the Tuskegee pilots along into battle. The 99th Fighter Squadron went to North Africa in April 1943 and flew its first combat mission against the island of Pantelleria on June 2, 1943. Capt. Charles B. Hall was the first African-American pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
In July 19th 1943 the US along with the Tuskegee airmen flew into Sicily. The 332nd Fighter Group became part of the 15th Air Force, escorting American bombers as they flew over Italy. As escorts, flying P-47s and later P-51s, they were responsible for protecting larger bombers from German fighter planes. They performed very well putting forward one of the lowest number of losses and were in high demand throughout allied bombers units.
After Sicily they fought throughout central and southern Europe.
From 1943 to 1946 the Tuskegee airmen flew over 15,533 sorties and 1578 missions and shot down 251 enemy aircraft throughout WW2, never losing a bomber. The group as a whole were awarded 850 medals including eight Purple Hearts, fourteen Bronze Stars, three Distinguished Unit Citations, and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses.. In 1946 the US military desegregated 19 years before the rest of the country followed.
“They said blacks couldn’t be pilots and wouldn’t make good military men. We proved them wrong. We distinguished ourselves in every way possible we made that red tail famous” Lt Col Hiram Mann
“The privileges of being American belongs to those brave enough to fight for them.” Benjamin O Davis junior commander of the Tuskegee Airmen.
