The first African American pilots in the U.S. military belonged to a unit called the Tuskegee Airmen. The pilots trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen fought well during the war. They kept many U.S. bomber planes from being shot down by enemy pilots.

Background

At the beginning of World War II African Americans were serving in the U.S. military. However, there were no black fighter pilots. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other groups asked the military to allow blacks to serve as airmen. Finally, in 1941 the U.S. Army Air Corps started a training program for African American pilots.

The airmen

The students, or cadets, studied and trained in Alabama at the Tuskegee Institute—founded in 1881 by African American educator Booker T. Washington—and at the nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field. In addition to flight skills, the cadets learned about weather conditions, medicine, spying, and engineering. The first group of cadets graduated in 1942. Eventually 992 pilots graduated from the training program.

The Tuskegee Airmen served overseas from 1943 to 1945. The group flew more than 1,500 missions over Europe and North Africa. The airmen destroyed more than 200 enemy planes. They never lost a U.S. bomber that they were protecting. They received many medals for their outstanding service.

Impact

The Tuskegee Airmen proved that African American pilots could fly as well as white pilots. Their success helped lead to desegregation (the mixing of races) in the U.S. military. In 1998 the U.S. government established the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama. The site honors the heroic efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.