Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?
1 Answer
Black soldiers who were trained to be fighter pilots.
Explanation:
Prior to Tuskegee, black soldiers were almost exclusively enlisted men. To be a pilot you had to be an office, a second lieutenant. The first black squadrons were commanded entirely by white officers.
It was believed prior to their introduction into the European theater that these black pilots would under-perform and embarrass the US Army Air Corps. To the contrary, the "Red Tails," as they were known (the fighter planes tails were painted red) experienced the highest kill ratio and the lowest mortality of any fighter unit. It was not long before the bomber squadrons they escorted requested that the "red tails" accompany them, favoring them over their white counterparts. This was a radical shift in perception by the army and the men in it.
