Online Learning

Tuskegee Airmen

Hogans-Hampton Ariel

HIST222

Dr. Mikkelsen

28 March 2016

Tuskegee Airmen

On January 19, 1941, 13 African American men came together and formed the first class of trainees of airmen. Only five of them graduated at the Tuskegee Army Air Field fifteen weeks later. Those among the new pilots were Benjamin O. Davis Jr., a West point Graduate. He later went on to become the commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron. The Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated and determined gentlemen who had volunteered to become some of Americas first black military airmen.

Each one of them had a strong personal desire to be in and serve the U.S.A. proudly and to the best of their ability as airmen. Even though many Americans felt that African American men lacked the ability, intelligence, courage and patriotism to be fighter pilots they were still determined to fight for their country. The first classes of the Tuskegee Airmen were trained to be fighter pilots for the 99th Fighter Squadron, and by March of 1942 and June of 1946 about 992 men had graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Alabama.

The African American airmen who became single or multi engine pilots were actually trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen because they all received their primary, basic, and advanced pilot training near the city of Tuskegee, Macon County. In order for them to be accepted in the pilot training at Tuskegee they had to be a college graduate and they were expected to become officers in the Army Air Force or second lieutenants after they completed their advance training.

There was a sequence of flying training phases. The first was civilian pilot training (CPT), that began in 1941 at Tuskegee Institute. With the next few phases being primary pilot training (PPT) in 1941 at Tuskegee’s Moton Field using Army PT-17 and PT-13 biplanes and PT-19 mono planes. In November of 1941 they moved to a much larger airfield in Tuskegee and...