Tuskegee Airmen Museum

 

 

 

Located in Tuskegee, AL, is Moton Field.  Here the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII accepted the challenge.  With pride and determination, young men enlisted to become America's first black military airmen.  Enlisted members were trained in aircraft and engine mechanics, as armament specialists, radio repairmen, parachute riggers, control tower operators, policemen, clerks, and all skills necessary to function as an Army Air Corp flying squadron or ground support unit.  The black men who became pilots were trained here at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, AL. 

The first class began in 1941 with 13 men with only 5 men advancing.  Nearby Tuskegee University...a historical African American University was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881.  Here in a one room church building Flight Cadets received pre-flight training.  Later the University was built.  Tuskegee was a perfect training spot as the climate made it suitable for year-round flying.  Moton Field provided primary flight training.  Tuskegee Army Air Field provided basic and advanced flight training.

With use of models and pictures, airplane recognition, uniform styles, and gas warfare plus was learned.







Rametelli Air Field, Italy
1944-1945

After a long road of rejection, the 99th Fighter Squadron was formed and sent to Northern Africa in 1943 to fly P-40's on patrol and bomber escort missions.  Proving their skills, these pilots provided air support over Italy.  Squadrons of the 332nd quickly gained a reputation as excellent escort units along with the 99th.  They were the ONLY ones who NEVER lost a bomber.  Bomber crews called them the "Red Tail Angels" because of their planes tail sections painted red.  They had lots of red paint...so painting the tail of their planes red was their stamp.

In 1944, the 99th joined the 332nd squadron to begin flying the P-51...the best US fighter plane of the war.  The 477th Bombardment Group did not see combat as the war with Japan had ended.  In 1945, pilots from the 477th took a stand that helped convince President Harry Truman to sign an Executive Order in 1948 calling for "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."  This was the end of segregation and the beginning of integration in the military.

Over 1000 black aviators trained for the war effort between 1941 and the closing of Moton Field in 1946. 



Do you remember these things?






 



A good day at the museum.  Gas at SAM's Club in Auburn, GA.  Road repair made a slow ride home.

Take care...be safe...until next time...see you by the campfire.