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The Tuskegee Airmen
Poster Text: In March of 1942, five African American men earned the siver wings of military pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. These men were the firs "Tuskegee Airmen," a group of black pilots who served wit hgreat distinction during World War II.
The War Department established a black fighter squadron only after great pressure from African American leaders and the press. Blinded by prejudice, many Americans of the time believed blacks could not fly airplanes. In early 1941, the Secretary of War reluctantly approved a plan that set up the first all-black squadron in the Army Air Corps. The plan included the construction of a training base at Tuskegee Institute, a historically black college. Yet even facilities at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, where the African American cadets were learning to fly, remained segregated. And all the commanding officers at Tuskegee were white. Thirteen young African American men made up the first class, but only five completed the hard training. After America entered World War II in December of 1941, black men applied for admission to the Army Air Corps in larger numbers than ever. Gradually, class sizes were increased at the Tuskegee air field. By the end of World War II in 1945, nearly a thousand African American pilots had trained at Tuskegee, and 450 of them had flown in combat.
In 1943, the first squadron of Tuskegee Airmen left for overseas duty. It was stationed in West Africa. The squadron was soon joined by three more squadrons of Tuskegee Airmen. At first, the job of America's small and fast fighter planes in World War Ii was to escort and protect the heavier and slower bombers. Later in the war, fighter planes were permitted to pursue enemy aircraft. In hundreds of escort missions over North Africa and Europe, the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber. No other group in the Army Air Corps could make that claim Grateful bomber crews called the Tuskegee group the Red-Tail Angels because of the red markings on the tails of their aircraft.
The Red-Tail Angels also compiled an outstanding combat record. They participated in the D-Day operation, downing many German fighter planes in the days following the June 6, 1944, invasion of France. On June 25, 1944, two Tuskegee Airmen sank a German warship with machine gun fire. This was the first time a fighter aircraft had accomplished such a feat. During the war, the Tuskegee Airmen destroyed many enemy aircraft and damaged and destroyed a great number of enemy railroad cars, barges, boats, oil and ammunitions dumps, buildings, and factories. They earned 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Legion of Merit, 744 Air Medals, eight Purple Hearts, two Soldier's Medals, and fourteen Bronze Stars. Sisty-six Tuskegee Airmen died in aerial combat and 32 more were shot down and captured as prisoners of war. After World War II, the black squadrons were deactivated. By 1947, the Army Air Corps had become the United States Air Force and had begun integrating its units. Some historians believe that the performance records of the Tuskegee Airmen helped bring an end to segregation in the military.
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