The Tuskegee Airmen Story, often referred to as the "Tuskegee Experience" was a unique and extremely important program in the history of our country for Black citizens and for the nation as a whole. This program was started at the beginning of World War II as a result of discontent resulting from decades of maltreatment as second-class citizens and specifically, during this time, from the denial of opportunities to serve our country in the military, in jobs other than service or labor work.

In the face of strong resistance from the military establishment and most officials in the War Department, a relentless effort was carried on by a number of Black organizations and individuals, including sympathetic Whites, to persuade the government to accept Blacks for training by the Air Corps in military aviation. After considerable debate on the subject, the government agreed to establish a program in which African American applicants would be trained in all aspects of military aviation and sent into combat as a segregated unit.

In January 1941, under the direction of the NAACP, a Howard University student, Yancey Williams, filed suit against the War Department to compel his admission to a pilot training center. Almost immediately following the filing of the suit, the War Department under pressure from northern congressmen, and with an order from the Commander-in-Chief, announced that it would establish an aviation unit near Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, in cooperation with the institute for the training of Negro pilots for the Army. This unit was to be called the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

The first pilot class, 42-C, completed the training and received their wings on March 7, 1942. The five graduates were: Captain Benjamin O. Davis, 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel R. Custis, 2nd Lieutenant Charles DeBow, 2nd Lieutenant George S. Roberts, and 2nd Lieutenant Mac Ross.

A total of 994 pilots graduated from Tuskegee Army Flying School. Class 46-C was the last class to finish training at the school and graduated on June 29, 1946. Shortly thereafter the "Tuskegee Experience" ended with the closing of Tuskegee Army Air Field. Or did it really end? You are encouraged to take advantage and learn through reading about the 450 Tuskegee Airmen who flew 1578 missions - 15,533 combat sorties while fighting the Germans, both in North Africa and Italy; the unequaled near perfect record, while they were escorting, due to enemy aircraft action; the contributions of the 477th Bombardment Group and their struggle to achieve parity and recognition as competent military professionals, leading to the War Department's evaluation of it's racial policies and the ultimate desegregation of the military.