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On 16 January 1941, the Army
Air Corps was opened to blacks after decades of segregation.
Tuskegee , Alabama, was chosen for flight school. This area of
the country was noted for intolerance, violence, and segregation.
In the spring of 1941, flight
instructor C. Alfred Anderson took First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for
a flight around Tuskegee . Flight training began in June of
1941 with the class 42-C-SE of 13 men. Only five graduated,
including Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who became the commander of
the 99th fighter squadron, and later the 332nd fighter
group.
The 100th fighter squadron soon
followed and later the 301st and 302nd in mid-1942. Tuskegee
Army Air Field was a hell-hole of prejudice. The black
squadrons were not sent to combat after training, but stayed in the
States and kept training. Because of the delays, the 99th had
much more training than white units, with most pilots having 250
hours in the P-40 fighter, when the 99th Fighter Squadron arrived in
North Africa, 9 June 9 1943. The first combat mission was
escorting A-20 Havoc attack bombers, on a mission to the island of Pantelleria.
On his eighth combat mission, Lt.
Charles B. Hall was the first 99th pilot to shoot down a German
fighter on 2 July 1943 in his P-40L. The 99th moved first to
Sicily and then to Italy, where they were used for ground attack
more than escort fighting.
February 1944, the 100th, 301st, and
302nd fighter squadrons joined the 99th to form the 332nd fighter
group. These squadrons flew the P-39 Airacobra fighters, which
were very good at ground attack. In mid-1942 the 332nd got P-47
Thunderbolt fighters to replace their P-39 and P-40 fighters.
On 25 June 1944, eight P-47s attacked a German destroyer escort with
machine-guns, and it blew up and sank.
The P-47 was the first Red Tail, and transition to the P-51 Mustang fighter
happened in June 1944. The tails were painted red and thus were
born the Red Tails. On 8 July 1944, the 332nd fighter group shot
down eleven enemy aircraft. Ground attack and escort missions
were the work of the Red Tails, for the rest of the war. The
Germans called them Schwartze Volgelmenschen (black birdmen).
Most white pilots were rotated home after fifty missions, but the
Tuskegee could not train enough black pilots. Walter Palmer of
the 100th fighter squadron was not rotated home until he completed
158 missions in November 1944.
Pilots of the 332nd fighter group
were among the first to confront the ME 262 German jet fighter, and gun camera
photos were used to train other pilots on how to combat the much
faster jets. 450 Tuskegee pilots flew their P-51s on over
1,500 missions, destroying 111 enemy aircraft in the air, plus 150
more on the ground. One destroyer escort and 57
locomotives were destroyed, plus numerous rail cars and river barges.
994 men were trained as aircrew and another 16,000 to 19,000 men
were trained as ground crew, including some white men.
The Red Tails escorted 200 bomber
missions without the loss of any bomber to enemy fighters, a record
unequaled by any other fighter group. Altogether, the Red
Tails were awarded 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, plus other
medals; 66 pilots were killed in action and another 33 were
captured.
Partly because of the Tuskegee Airmen's
courage and devotion to duty, President Truman desegregated the
military in 1948. Within 45 years of the end of WWII, General
Colin Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen
United States Capitol
March 29, 2007
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“The Tuskegee Airmen helped win a war, and you helped change our
nation for the better. Yours is the story of the human
spirit, and it ends like all great stories do – with
wisdom and lessons and hope for tomorrow.”
White House photo by Joyce Boghosian
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Many of the airmen were 80 or 90 years old and in wheel
chairs.
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Another wheel chair bound Tuskegee Airman leaves the
gold medal ceremony.
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Airman leaving the ceremony.
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Tuskegee Airman leaving gold medal ceremony.
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Tuskegee airmen thanking Rep. Charlie Rangle on the left
who was the driving force behind the awarding of the
gold medal.
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On 29 March 2007, about 350 Tuskegee
Airmen and their widows were collectively awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in the US Capitol
rotunda. The medal will go on display at the Smithsonian
Institution.

Tuskegee Airmen Bronze
Medal 3”
These medals are being struck in honor of the Tuskegee
Airmen in recognition of their unique military record,
which inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.
The obverse design features three Tuskegee Airmen in
profile, an officer, a mechanic, and a pilot, as
designated by their headgear. An eagle flies with wings
outstretched, symbolizing flight, nobility, and the
highest ideals of the Nation with the inscriptions,
“Tuskegee Airmen,” “1941,” and “1949.” The reverse
design features a rendition of the three types of planes
the Tuskegee Airmen flew in World War II, based on a
logo design of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. The planes
depicted in the design are the P-40, P-51, and the B-25
with the inscriptions, “Outstanding Combat Record
Inspired Revolutionary Reform in the Armed Forces,” “Act
of Congress” and “2006.”
Designers:
Obverse -
Phebe Hemphill
Reverse -
Don Everhart
Authorizing
Legislation:
Public Law 109-213
Place Minted:
Philadelphia Mint (no mint mark) |
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