Tuskegee Airmen

A detailed Summary of Tuskegee Airmen

Throughout history, African Americans have been met by prejudice and mistreatment. This attitude towards blacks has not only been seen in the public work place and social activities, but in the armed forces as well. Since early American military history, blacks have always been involved in defending our country. However, they were never really given full credit and recognition for their hard work and patriotism. Not only were they unrecognized, but they were required to serve in all black units. World War II was no different and there was still deep segregation of the armed forces. Once the United States entered the war, all the black leaders and black press protested against this segregation and treatment of blacks as inferior. This resulted in the formation of the "Tuskegee Experiment" in March of 1941 (The Tuskegee Airmen, p.27). It was to "prove" racial deficiencies in intelligence and concentration of black pilots compared to white pilots. This experiment definitively backfired on its founders and the Institute successfully graduated 992 pilots including Generals Daniel James, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and Lucius Theus. Although it took much more than graduating well-educated, capable pilots to change the story of segrega

The Tuskegee airmen were so good at flying and completing their missions that they not only received nicknames from their fellow airmen, but from the Germans as well. They were knows as "The Red Tail Angels" to their comrades because of the red paint on the nose and tail assemblies of their custom-made P-47's, and for their reputation for not losing any bombers during escort missions. One white B-24 pilot recalled that "The P-38's always stayed too far out, and other mustang groups stayed too close. Other groups just wanted to go and shoot down the enemy. The Red Tails, though, were always out there where we wanted them to be. We had no idea they were black either; it was the Army's best kept secret." To the Germans, they were also known as the "Schwartze Volelmenschen", which means black birdmen in German. The Germans who fought against the Tuskegee airmen not only feared them but also respected them because of their effort to succeed and for their bravery. It was interesting to see how successful the Tuskegee airmen were, even to the degree of other soldiers not realizing that they were black. An experiment that was meant to fail succeeded far beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

"Tuskegee Airmen" http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museam/history/prewii/ta.htm

"Tuskegee" http://avstop.com/History/TuskegeeAirmen/Part3.htm

On April 24, 1943, the 99th Pursuit Squadron arrived in North Africa to become part of the war and start what would become one of the greatest legends of World War II (Black Knights, p. 15). Their first mission was a strafing attack on Pantelleria Island and occurred on June 2, 1943. Then on October 9, 1943, they were combined with the 79th fighter group, which was an all-white group led by Colonel Earl Bates. This was the first time they were integrated with white troops and were no longer restricted to escort missions of bombers. They flew missions together for almost a year. Operation Strangle was the last mission with the 79th and also concluded the existence of the 99th squadron. Surprisingly for the time, the white and black pilots and crewmembers worked well together. On July 4, 1944, the 99th joined three other squadrons - the 100th, the 301st and the 302nd - to form the 332nd fighter group. The members of the 99th had voiced opposition to this combination, though. They felt that the other completely black squadrons from Tuskegee had seen little to no action, which was dangerous to them, and to the new added squadrons. It would have made more military sense to combine each of the 100th, 301st, and 302nd squadrons with already active and war-experienced squadrons. In addition, this combination of black squadrons just segregated the blacks in combat even more. The newly added squadrons also had concerns because they feared that their assignments wouldn't be at the same level as the 99th's and they wouldn't receive as much active duty. Although all squadrons had these harsh feelings towards the others at the beginning of their combination, they still worked very well together. In fact they are the only fighter group that can say it never had a bomber shot down while on an escort mission. This is quite an accomplishment when you realize that they flew on over 200 escort missions. Their ability to work together was seen in their continued triumphs.

The Tuskegee Institute had been founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 and was originally known as the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. It became The Tuskegee Institute in 1937. The school originally taught the regular academic subjects but put an emphasis on practical education such as farming, carpentry, brick making, shoemaking, printing and cabinetmaking. Students worked to build the school, moving it from a shanty building in 1881 to a school with over 400 students based on 540 acres of land in 1888. This education was supported by whites because of Washington's conservative leadership. He believed that blacks nee

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Approximate Word count = 2729
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History