In 1939, international tensions were high, and war was on the horizon. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) Act, the mission of which was to train pilots who could be called up for military duty if needed.
The CPT was only available to White applicants, and, in 1941, Yancey Williams, a licensed pilot and senior at Howard University, filed a lawsuit. With the NAACP preparing to represent him and protests from civil rights groups, Black aviators, and a few politicians, the program was opened to everyone. Six Historically Black Colleges were selected for the program, including the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, founded by Booker T. Washington.
PREPARING FOR WAR
Frederick D. Patterson, president of the Tuskegee Institute, wanted a training program at his school, and the 99th Pursuit Squadron was formed. The training would be conducted at Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) and Tuskegee Institute’s Moton field. Initially, the NAACP opposed the program because it was segregated, but others believed it was the best that could be hoped for in the prevailing environment.
WELCOME TO TUSKEGEE
The Tuskegee area was, of course, segregated, and the locals did not welcome the trainees. Most of the men never left the base, as the local sheriff was a notorious racist and would arrest the airmen for any type of infraction, real or imagined. To raise morale, the base commander, Col. Noel F. Parrish, arranged for the USO to bring in some entertainment, and they delivered. Famous entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, and Lena Horne performed on the base.
THE FIRST CLASS ARRIVES
In July of 1941, the first 13 young Black men arrived in Tuskegee to begin training as U.S. Army Air Corps pilots. Only five managed to graduate from the rigorous program. Four of them received commissions as second lieutenants. Benjamin O. Davis, a captain at the beginning of flight training, was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the first all-Black squadron, the 99th Pursuit Squadron.
THE TUSKEGEE AIRFIELDS
The Tuskegee Institute used five separate airfields for the pilot training program:
Kennedy Field was the first airfield purchased for the program. It was located about five miles from the institute, with only 55 acres, no paved runways, and four small hangars in place. Civilian pre-flight training began even though improvements were being made. In 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the field and was taken on a ride by Alfred “Chief” Anderson, the chief flight instructor. Roosevelt was so impressed that she began a fundraising campaign for a larger facility called Moton Field.
Moton Field was used for Military Primary Training in the PT-13 and PT-17 aircraft. Every cadet received primary training at Moton during World War II, bused from the Tuskegee Institute. It is now known as Moton Field Municipal Airport, home to the Tuskegee Airman National Historic Site.
It was named after Robert Russa Moton, the second president of the Tuskegee Institute.
Completed around the same time as Moton Field, Tuskegee Army Airfield was used for more advanced training in the BT-13 monoplane and the AT-6 Texan. The new base was huge compared to the others, covering 1,700 acres, four intersecting runways, three large double hangars, and two auxiliary airfields for the pilots to practice on, Griel Field and Shorter Field.
THE FREEMAN FIELD MUTINY
In 1943, the all-Black 477th Bombardment Group was formed and stationed at Selfridge Field, Michigan, for training. The tone was set when the commander of the First Air Force told the men, “The War Department is not ready to recognize Blacks on the same level of social equality to White men … I will not tolerate any mixing of the races,” despite Army Regulation 2-10 that specified that an officer at a base was entitled to join the officer’s club.
In May 1944, the unit was moved to Gorman Field, Kentucky, collocated with Fort Knox. There, the segregation issue was “avoided” as the White officers went to the Fort Knox Officer’s Club while Black officers were at Gorman Field.
In March 1945, the unit was relocated to Freeman Field, Indiana. With morale still low, it was here that the segregation issue boiled over. The unit commander, Colonel Robert Selway, tried to hide his racism by establishing two officer’s clubs on base. Instead of labeling them as “Black” or “White” officers, he designated one as “base and supervisory personnel” (white officers) and the other as “trainees” (black officers). In record time, the “trainee” club was called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” with black officers refusing to enter.
On April 5, 1945, small groups of Black officers went to the White officer’s club to seek service. The first group of three officers were turned away. Still, later groups were met by the Officer of the Day, First Lieutenant Joseph Rogers. Nineteen officers entered the club against the orders and refused to leave; they were arrested “in quarters.”
Seventeen more Black officers attempted entry and were placed under arrest later that night, including Second Lieutenant Roger C. Terry, who Lieutenant Rogers claimed shoved him out of the way. The next night, 25 more officers were arrested, with 61 officers arrested during the two days of protest.
After review by the First Air Force Air Inspector, charges were dropped on all officers except for Terry and two others.
Colonel Selway wasn’t finished and created a new base regulation to segregate the clubs that met “legal” requirements. Selway ordered all Black officers to be given a copy and to sign that they understood it. One hundred and one officers refused to sign and were arrested and transferred to Goodman Field for court-martial.
Word of the arrests spread quickly, and General George Marshall ordered their release. In the end, Lieutenant Roger Terry was acquitted of disobeying an order but was convicted of shoving Lieutenant Rogers, receiving a dishonorable discharge.
THE RED TAILS
Colonel Davis and his 332nd Fighter Group arrived in Italy and were based at Ramitelli Airfield. The four-squadron group eventually transitioned to the North American P-51 Mustang, and it was here that the Tuskegee Airmen coined the term Red Tails when their fighters were painted with red-nose spinners and tails.
During the war, the airmen, commanded by Benjamin Davis, flew more than 15,000 sorties, shot down 112 enemy aircraft, and destroyed or damaged 273 on the ground at a cost of 66 of their planes while losing about 25 bombers during escort duties. The bomber crews were glad to see the Red Tails on escort duty, as they had the reputation of never leaving the bombers.
THE TUSKEGEE HALL OF FAME
While a complete list of Tuskegee VIPs is impossible, here are two selected by the National Historic Site.
BENJAMIN O. DAVIS JR.
Davis was a graduate of West Point who endured four long years of discrimination from his fellow cadets, who refused to speak to him unless required in class. In 1936, Davis graduated 35th out of a class of 276. This ranking should have entitled him to the assignment of his choosing, and Davis chose flight training.
Davis was told that no Black aviation units existed. At his graduation, the Army had only two Black officers who weren’t chaplains, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. and Benjamin O. Davis Junior. Davis was assigned to the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, one of the original Buffalo Soldier Regiments. Later, Davis was assigned to teach military tactics at Tuskegee Institute, just as his father did years before. The Army used this as a way to prevent Black officers from commanding White soldiers.
In 1941, with the creation of the Pilot Training Program, Davis was given the assignment he wanted. After graduating from flight training and being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Davis was selected as commander of the all-Black 99th Pursuit Squadron. The unit, equipped with Curtiss P-40 fighters, was sent to Tunisia in the spring of 1943. On June 2, they saw combat for the first time in a dive-bombing mission against the German-held island of Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily as part of Operation Corkscrew.
In September 1943, Davis was sent back to the United States to command the 332nd Fighter Group, a larger all-Black unit preparing to go overseas, which included the 100th, 301st, and 302nd fighter squadrons.
Soon after Davis’ arrival, there was an attempt to stop using Black pilots in combat missions. Senior Army Air Corps officers recommended to the Army chief of staff, General George Marshall, that the 99th be removed from combat operations due to poor performance. Davis immediately held a news conference at the Pentagon to defend his men and then presented his case to the committee studying the use of Black servicemen.
General Marshall ordered an inquiry but allowed the squadron to continue fighting. The investigation found that the 99th’s performance was comparable to other air units. Still, any doubts about the squadron’s capabilities were answered in January 1944 when its pilots shot down 12 German fighters while providing air cover at the Anzio beachhead.
Davis had such a strong hold over his men that some referred to the unit as “Ben Davis’ Air Force.” While some of his men used it as an insult, most meant it as a compliment. Davis went on to become the first Black Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force.
DANIEL “CHAPPIE” JAMES
Daniel James grew up as the youngest of 17 children. He excelled in education because his mother, Ms. Lillie, who ran a local school in her Pensacola home, instilled in him the power of her 11th commandment, “Thou shalt not quit.” He was a veteran of three wars and flew over 100 missions in Korea.
As a Deputy Wing Commander in Thailand, he planned a successful bombing mission in Vietnam with his Wing Commander Robin Olds, who became the dynamic duo “Blackman and Robin.” He confronted a young Muammar Khaddaffi as the base commander at Wheelus AB, Libya, and he was the first African American to attain the rank of O-10 in any branch of U.S. Military Service.
THE LEGACY
From November 1941 to the end of the Tuskegee program in June 1946, 44 classes trained 994 pilots who graduated from Tuskegee and approximately 17,000 maintenance and support personnel before it was shut down. The Tuskegee National Historic Site chronicles their incredible journey.
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