Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen

Black servicemen of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) who trained at Alabama's Tuskegee Army Air Field in World War II. They constituted the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military. The first class trained at Tuskegee in 1941 became the 99th Pursuit Squadron, commanded by Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.. They flew their first mission in the Mediterranean in 1943. Later that year the army activated three more squadrons; joined with the 99th in 1944, they constituted the 332nd Fighter Group. The latter was the USAAF's only escort group that did not lose a bomber to enemy planes. A second black flying group, the 477th Bombardment Group, was established near the end of the war. In all, the Tuskegee Airmen flew 1,578 missions, destroyed 261 enemy aircraft, and won over 850 medals.