Above: Members of the 99th Fighter/Pursuit Squadron in front of a P-40 pursuit/fighter aircraft
The Tuskegee Airmen:
The War Overseas and at Home
Thesis Statement
These young, gallant men and women not only fought overseas, but bravely defended and fought for desegregation in a nation who could not seat blacks and whites in the same schools, with bravery, dignity, proud honor and devotion as the United States of America's first black airmen.
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The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American pilots, who made up the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group. The 332nd, also known as the Red Tails, was comprised of the 99th, 100th, 301st and 302nd fighter squadrons, and became skilled fighter pilots in the European Theater in the second world war. The 477th Bombardment Group and the 553rd Fighter Replacement Training Squadron, both created in the later part of the war, was also part of the Tuskegee Airmen, but never saw any combat.
Above: A photograph of two members of the 477th Bombardment Group standing in front of a B-25 'Mitchell' bomber aircraft, Atterbury air base, Columbus, Indiana.
The Tuskegee airmen were the first black servicemen to serve as military aviators in the U.S. armed forces, flying with distinction during World War II. Though subject to racial discrimination both at home and abroad, the 996 pilots and more than 15,000 ground personnel who served with the all-black units would be credited with some 15,500 combat sorties and earn over 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses for their achievements. The highly publicized successes of the Tuskegee Airmen helped pave the way for the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces under President Harry Truman in 1948.