Michael N. Period 1
The Tuskegee Airmen project was a very successful achievement for African Americans during WWII. It allowed African Americans to have the chance to prove that they are as efficient as white pilots in combat. During this period in the Tuskegee air base, African Americans were being trained to prove that they were as capable as the white pilots to go into air combat. The Tuskegee Airmen came from all over the United States, trained and fought hard, defined all odds, and were very successful.
Before the Tuskegee Airmen colored people were not allowed to fly airplanes in battle. On April 3, 1939 congress passed the Appropriations Bill Public Law 18. This made it possible for colored people to be trained to be pilots in war. The war department also made it possible for funding to go to the training of the Tuskegee airmen. In 1940 there was only 140 African American pilots in the United States. They had to take many tests to begin their training. They were sometimes forced to take several tests that were unnecessary. They would only choose the black pilots with a certain level of flight experience or higher education. This was intended to exclude most applicants. It was done so that only the best African American pilots would be accepted so it would be a success. The Tuskegee Airmen really started to look like it was going to be a success when the first lady flew with one of the black pilots. The beginning program was ultimately a huge success for the United States.
It was a very hard travel for the Tuskegee airman. That had a long road ahead of them once that got to training. There were many airmen that were involved at the beginning and they gradually got less. They always did the best at flying and never got the chance to see any action in the air. They always had very good attitudes and showed a lot of respect towards there instructors. There were many white instructors and only a couple African. The Tuskegee Airmen had to go through a lot with racist comments. Some of them couldn’t handle all of that presser and the committed suicide. It took till close to the end of the war till the whites finally realized that the Africans were actually good at flying and could help them in many different ways. They only reason the whites thought they needed the Africans help was because the Africans showed up while they were patrolling and saved the captain of the whites. The Africans got there chance to shine and they did which made them just as equal as the whites.
A very positive legacy was created by the Tuskegee airmen during World War II. Over time they began to show white Americans that they really cared about America, and were willing to die for it. At first, many white people had their doubts that African Americans could become competent pilots. Even when the odds were against them, the African American pilots never gave up, and were determined to learn, and better their skills so they could enter combat. In fact, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing never lost a single bomber while protecting them. The white bomber pilots actually requested the African American pilots to protect them in some cases because they were very consistent. The African Americans started becoming recognized, and awarded medals during the war. In the long run, this really helped show the white Americans that the Tuskegee airmen were good pilots and deserve to be pilots. They started to become recognized and this helped them in being treated as the white Americans, which helped lessen segregation. All in all, the Tuskegee Airmen were a very important step towards ending racism in America, and showing that African Americans should be treated equally.
To sum it up, Tuskegee Airman had a titanic role during WWII. Tuskegee helped the advancement of African Americans to become equal in society. This also helped the army realize that African Americans can fly planes just as well as white people. The Tuskegee Airman was a complete success and will forever be remembered as an important event in American history.