Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen, the informal name for black Americans who were trained to become pilots during World War II. Responding to complaints from blacks that they were not being given the opportunity to serve as pilots, the Army Air Corps in 1941 established a training program for them at Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. Black ground crews were trained at Chanute Field, Illinois.
Under the program, some 600 blacks became pilots, serving in several units. One such unit, the all-black 332nd Fighter Group, escorted bombers on 200 missions without losing a single bomber to enemy aircraft.
The best-known of the Tuskegee Airmen was Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who commanded first the 99th Pursuit Squadron in North Africa and then the 332nd in Italy.