Due to the rigid pattern of racial segregation that prevailed in the United States at the outbreak of World War II, black aviators were not permitted to train as pilots for the Army Air Force. In order to tap into this otherwise unused source of manpower, black military aviators were trained at an isolated training complex, at the Tuskegee Army Air Base near the town of Tuskegee, Alabama. These pioneer military pilots faced opposition from members of the Army command and political system determined to see them fail. Against this backdrop 450 black fighter pilots eventually completed flight training and went on to fight in the aerial war over North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Nazi occupied Europe. They flew the P-39, P-40, P-47 and P-51 fighter aircraft.
The Tuskegee Airmen were under the command of Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who was later to become the U.S. Air Force’s first black 3-star general. These gallant men were called the “Schwartze Vogelmenschen” (Black Birdmen) by the Germans who both feared and respected them. White American bomber crew admiringly referred to them as “The Red Tail Angels” because of the distinctive red paint on their tails of their planes and for their well deserved reputation for vigorously protecting the American bombers they were charged with escorting. In addition to the Tuskegee pilots, all the ground support, administrative and logistics personnel assigned to the squadrons were black.
In 1944 the original Tuskegee trained 99th Fighter Squadron was joined with three more black squadrons, the 100th, 301st and 302nd, and designated as the 332nd Fighter Group. Other black pilots, navigators, bombardiers and crewmen who were trained for medium bombardment duty formed into the 477th Medium Bombardment Group. It had just finished preparations for deployment overseas when the war ended.
The Tuskegee Airmen fought two wars; in the air against the Nazis and at home against racial prejudice.
The exhibit at the Museum contains historic items such as
the flight jacket of George “Spanky” Roberts, one of the first five Tuskegee
Airmen and commander of the 99th fighter squadron in 1944-1945.
There are also copies of clippings from war time newspapers from the collection
of Mrs. Roberts (who currently resides here in Sacramento). They give a
contemporary account of the events unfolding in the skies over war-torn Europe
as her husband and others fought against the aerial might of the Third Reich.
Decorations, uniforms, medals and other artifacts help tell the story of these
heroic African American pilots.