What was the 99th Pursuit Squadron of the Army Air Corps (now the US Air Force)? It was the first all-black flying outfit, and the first to accept black cadets. For this to happen, a black college student who was an excellent pilot and wanted to serve in WWII had to sue the US military.
Perhaps you might not realize that, prior to this and despite meritorious service by Blacks in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War, a 1925 military study concluded that Blacks were lazy, lacked courage, weren't good military leaders and, thus, shouldn't be in combat! How crazy is that?!?! The cadets were sent to Tuskegee, AL, where the base was 6 miles from town. Keep in mind this was a segregated and highly racist area, so it was probably done on purpose to cause the cadets to fail. The plan failed, though!
For the Black ground crew that would support the 99th, they set up a training program at an airfield in Rantoul, IL.
Tuskegee was already famous because of the Tuskegee Institute, which was an all-Black college that opened on July 4, 1881, and Booker T. Washington was its first president. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of FDR, was supportive. When she visited the Tuskegee Institute in 1940, she watched Black chief flight instructor, Charles Alfred "Chief" Anderson, after which she said: "Some say Negroes can't fly airplanes, but you seem to be flying around very well." Against the wishes of her aides, she climbed into his plane and they flew over the campus. She enjoyed the ride and was photographed with Mr. Anderson.
Many candidates who applied to join the Army Air Corp were very well educated, some with degrees from top universities. Out of the 13 in the first class that started in July 1941, 5 passed muster and became the first Black pilot cadets ever.
The five cadets were:
Lemuel Custis (Conn.)
Charles DeBow (Ind.)
George Roberts (WV)
Mac Ross (OH)
Benjamin Davis, Jr. (DC, AL, OH, GA, KS: Army brat)
On March 7, 1942, they became the first Black PILOTS in the military. They were promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, except Mr. Davis, who already held the rank of Captain as he had graduated from West Point in 1936. Davis Jr had faced a lot of discrimination in West Point, too. They gave him the silent treatment to try and never had a roommate. However, he worked hard and graduated 3th in his class of 236 cadets!
The name changed to the 99th Pursuit Squadron. They faced segregation, and other discriminatory practices, and the squadron was sidelined for many months. Later, in 1942, they got a racist commander, but he was, fortunately, replaced by early 1943 with Colonel Noel Parrish, who resisted military rules that were racist, despite being white. He invited singers and actors to visit, including the great boxing Joe Louis!j
The 100th Fighter Squadron was activated in May 1942 and Mac Ross was named commander. Davis was given command of the 99th and promoted to major and then Lieutenant Colonel!
On 4/15/43, the 99th was shipped to Casablanca, Morocco, but they didn't get to see action until 6/2/43 due to racist policy makers in the government and military. On 6/9/43, Lt. Charles Dryden and Lt. Spann Watson shot German Me-109s. Lt. Willie Ashley shot another and possibly downed it, but he lost sight of it. They were the first Black pilots to shoot enemy planes! Sadly, on that mission, the first two Black pilots died in a midair collision: Lt. Sherman White and Lt James McCullin. Everyone was very sad. :(
In July, Lt. Charles Hull shot down a German Focke-Wulf-190. He was the first pilot with a confirmed victory and he did the victory roll when he returned to base! Boy were they excited! Later, the 99th moved to Licata, Sicily, Italy.
To overcome this barrier, Lt. Col. Davis, who had returned to the US to take command of the 332nd Fighter Group, (he was replaced by Cpt. George "Spanky" Roberts at the 99th) had to combat a specious, racist report by Col. William Momyer, who was commander of the 33rd Fighter Group, wherein he accused them of not being aggressive and not working as a team, and that black flyers didn't have the stamina to be fighter pilots. Some other air force officials approved the report, and there was a recommendation to pull the 99th. So Lt. Col. Davis met with a high-ranking government committee and set the record straight, including pointing out that the 99th had no replacement pilots so that they could get enough rest. The Army Air Force decided to keep the 99th in combat due to his convincing testimony!
In October 1943, the 99th joined the 79th Fighter Group, which was commanded by Col. Earl Bates, who welcomed them and recognized their talent and dedication. He allowed them to fly integrated missions for the first time in US military history, even though it violated US Army Air Force policy.
On 1/27/44, some of the 99th were on patrol over Anzio, Italy, when they spotted a group of the much faster German P-40s diving to attack American ships on the Mediterranean coast. Cpt. Clarence Jamison led that group to defend the ships and, despite being in inferior planes, they drove them away. Lts. Robert Diez, Clarence Allen, Leon Roberts, Henry Perry, Willie Ashley (after a long chase!), and Howard Baugh shot down 5 planes that day (Allen and Baugh both shot the same plane to bring it down)! Later that day, 3 more planes were shot down, but one of their own pilots was also killed. Cpt. Charles Hull shot down 2 more German fighters, and Lts. Diez and Lewis Smith shot down one each. There were also some probable kills credited to the 99th, and an Army Air Force general flew to the base to congratulate the men! A national magazine commented: "Any outfit would have been proud of the 99th's record. It's victories stamped the final seal of excellence [on the 99th]."
The 447th Bombardment Group became the first all-Black bomber outfit in early 1944, flying B-25s, and trained at Selfridge Field, MI. They also faced a lot of discrimination and, in fact, had to stage a peaceful rebellion, which resulted in the arrest of many of the pilots. The Army Air Force tried to force them to obey the segregation, but they rebelled again and, finally, after court martials, all but three of them were released. Those three had bumped a superior officer and were charged with using "using force." Ultimately, they were found not guilty but one was fined $150. All of the 101 officers involved in this had letters stating the military's unhappiness with their behavior put in their files but, years later, the Air Force removed those letters from their official files. Happily, the 477th's commander who had enforced the segregation and handled the matter so poorly was relieved of his command.
Davis, meanwhile, found his 332nd pilots sitting and waiting. Finally, the commander of the 15th Air Force wanted the 332nd to take the important mission of escorting B-17s and B-24s to bomb Germany. In order to be able to accompany the bombers, they needed better fighter planes than their P-39s, and got P-47 Thunderbolts. Davis was promoted to colonel! The 332nd pilots didn't like the tail design, so they repainted their tails and became known ever after as "The Red Tails." Their first mission was on 6/9/44 and they shot down 5 Germans, and only lost one of their own. They were praised by the bomber commander!
On 6/25/44, a group from the 332nd saw a German destroyer in the Adriatic Sea. They started strafing the ship and the shots of Cpt. Wendell Pruitt and Lt. Gwynne Pierson actually caused it to explode! I think that it was the only case of a German destroyer being destroyed by fighters in the war!
At the end of June, the 99th joined the 332nd, but they were exhausted. They had few replacement pilots and, while most White pilots about 50 missions before going back to the US, with some flying more than 100! As a result, many were grounded by the flight surgeon.
In March 1945, the Red Tails escorted a bombing mission of tank factories in Berlin, Germany. Initially, they were supposed to escort the bombers to Berlin and then other fighters would take over, but when they got there, they had to stay with the bombers and escort them back, too, and not one bomber was shot down by an Axis plane!
With their skill, dedication and hard work, the Red Tails became known as THE premier fighters of the Air Force. Not even once did the enemy airplanes manage to shoot down any bombers with the Red Tails guarding them - even when they were flying German jet fighters! When they heard bombers calling out for help because they were damaged and alone, the Red Tails would come to the rescue and make sure they got back to base safely! A gunner on one B-24 said: "I do owe my life and the life of the crew to the black Red Tail flyers, and I am eternally grateful." Bomber crews eventually started calling them the "Red Tail Angels", and on 9/1944, the Army Air Force recognized the 332nd for their superior service. 4 generals attended. General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., Davis's father, was the first American Black General! On 9/10/1944, he got the privilege of pinning the Distinguished Flying Cross on his son, JR! Three other pilots also got the DFC.
Col. Davis was given command of the 477th Composite Group (the name changed) in 1945 and they were assigned to help conquer Japan. They were, in fact, the ones who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WWII was over on 9/2/45!
By the time pilot training ended, 993 pilots had graduated, 450 had flown in combat in Europe and flew over 1,500 missions! 66 pilots died while fighting, and other died in training accidents. They downed 111 enemy planes, destroyed or damaged more than 270 aircraft on the ground and a number of boats, barges and locomotives.
Some pilots, on returning home, were treated as heroes, but others were not.
The 477th was stationed at Lockbourne Field near Columbus, OH, led by Col. Davis, but they still faced problems of segregation, and he had trouble getting enough qualified men. In the summer of '47, it was renamed the 477th Fighter Wing, but the outfit was downsized because of the military's segregation and staffing problems. President Harry Truman tried to get Congress to act to force the military to change, but they refused. Finally, as Commander-in-Chief of the military, he issued executive order 9981 in July 1948, calling for the integration of the US military, and then members of the 477th started to be assigned to different wings and, finally, all of them were integrated.
Other notable members of the 477th included:
- Daniel "Chappie" James, who also flew in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He became the first black to command an integrated combat outfit. In '75, he became the first Black 4-star general!
- Coleman Young became mayor of Detroit, MI.
- William Coleman was named the US Secretary of Transportation by Pres. Ford.
From the 332nd:
- Roscoe Brown became president of a community college in NYC.
- Lemuel Custis was a state government official in Connecticutt.
- Dr. Vance Marchbanks worked for the US space program.
Benjamin Davis, Jr. became the first black general in the US Air Force in 1954 and eventually retired as a 3-star general. He became assistant secretary at the US Dept. of Transportation.
This information was obtained from The Red Tails: World War II's Tuskegee Airmen by Steven L. Jones.
BTW, the first black to attain a very high role in the US gov't was Frederick Douglass.
If you appreciate this article, please upvote/like
, resteem/share
and share it to Facebook
, Twitter
, Reddit
, LinkedIn
and wherever else
you can!