[8] The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked more than two decades of advocacy by African Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators.

Finally, on 3 April 1939, Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress containing an amendment by Senator Harry H. Schwartz designating funds for training African-American pilots.

[9] In 1941, the War Department and the Army Air Corps, under pressure — three months before its transformation into the USAAF — constituted the first all-black flying unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

[10] Because of the restrictive nature of selection policies, the situation did not seem promising for African Americans, since in 1940 the U.S. Census Bureau reported there were only 124 African-American pilots in the nation.

The War Department set up a system to accept only those with a level of flight experience or higher education which ensured that only the ablest and most intelligent African-American applicants were able to join.

[citation needed] Airman Coleman Young (Second Lieutenant), later the first African-American mayor of Detroit, told journalist Studs Terkel about the process: They made the standards so high, we actually became an elite group.

You can't bring that many intelligent young people together and train 'em as fighting men and expect them to supinely roll over when you try to fuck over 'em, right?

[19][20] A group of 271 enlisted men began training in aircraft ground support trades at Chanute Field in March 1941 until they were transferred to bases in Alabama in July 1941.

Specifically, Elmer D. Jones, Dudley Stevenson, and James Johnson of Washington, DC; Nelson Brooks of Illinois, and William R. Thompson of Pittsburgh, PA successfully completed OTS and were commissioned as the first Black Army Air Corps Officers.

[32] Contrary to new Army regulations, Kimble maintained segregation on the field in deference to local customs in the state of Alabama, a policy that was resented by the airmen.

[33] Counter to the prevalent racism of the day, Parrish was fair and open-minded and petitioned Washington to allow the Tuskegee Airmen to serve in combat.

From Ramitelli, the 332nd Fighter Group escorted Fifteenth Air Force heavy strategic bombing raids into Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Germany.

Training of the new African-American crewmen also took place at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Scott Field, Belleville, Illinois.

Selway had been tipped off by a phone call and had the assistant provost marshal and base billeting manager stationed at the door to refuse the 477th officers' entry.

[74] In the wake of the Freeman Field Mutiny, the 616th and 619th were disbanded and the returned 99th Fighter Squadron was assigned to the 477th on 22 June 1945; it was redesignated the 477th Composite Group as a result.

[92] Alan Gropman, a professor at the National Defense University, disputed the initial refutations of the no-loss myth and said he researched more than 200 Tuskegee Airmen mission reports and found no bombers were lost to enemy fighters.

This total included 15 B-17s of the 483rd Bombardment Group shot down during a particularly savage air battle with an estimated 300 German fighters on 18 July 1944, that also resulted in nine kill credits and the award of five Distinguished Flying Crosses to members of the 332nd.

[83] In 2022, Dr. Haulman published a comprehensive study that established that the record of the 322d differed substantially from that of the three other P-51 groups assigned to Fifteenth Air Force in terms of bombers lost.

The Distinguished Flying Cross citation awarded to Colonel Benjamin O. Davis for the mission on 9 June 1944, noted that he "so skillfully disposed his squadrons that in spite of the large number of enemy fighters, the bomber formation suffered only a few losses.

[92] According to the 28 March 2007 Air Force report, some bombers under 332nd Fighter Group escort protection were even shot down on the day the Chicago Defender article was published.

[96] Contrary to negative predictions from some quarters, Tuskegee Airmen were some of the best pilots in the U.S. Army Air Forces due to a combination of pre-war experience and the personal drive of those accepted for training.

[100] After segregation in the military was ended in 1948 by President Harry S. Truman with Executive Order 9981, the veteran Tuskegee Airmen found themselves in high demand throughout the newly formed United States Air Force.

On 27 July 2018, his remains, which had been recovered in Austria a year earlier, were conclusively identified and confirmed to his daughter – included with them was a ring inscribed from her mother to her father and dated 1943.

On February 2, 2025, Lt Col. Harry Stewart Jr. died, thus leaving Lt. Col. George Hardy as the last surviving member of the original 355 Tuskegee Airmen who served in World War II.

Another Tuskegee aviator, Lucius Theus, retired a major general after dedicating most of his 36-year career in the Air Force to improving the military's bureaucracy, helping to implement a direct deposit system for service members.

On 1 August 2008, Camp Creek Parkway, a portion of State Route 6 in south Fulton County and in the City of East Point near Atlanta, Georgia, was officially renamed in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen.

[145] On 25 April 2021, NASCAR Cup Series driver Erik Jones honored the Airmen with a paint scheme at Talladega Superspeedway similar to the design of the P-51 Mustang they flew in World War II.

[146] A commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the official desegregation of the US military during which several Tuskegee Airmen were present was held on 26 July 2023 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

In July 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed a set of previously unidentified remains and positively identified them through lab tests as belonging to Brewer.

In January 2025, United States Air Force lesson plans and training courses which involved videos of the Tuskegee Airmen were suspended in compliance with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI orders.