Jim Crow and Uncle Sam: The Tuskegee Flying Units and the U.S. Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II

This article discusses the nature of race relations in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War. America's first all-black flying units, the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, trained at segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, carried out tactical an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of military history Vol. 67; no. 3; pp. 773 - 810
Main Author Percy, William Alexander
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published George C. Marshall Foundation and the Virginia Military Institute 01.07.2003
Society for Military History
Subjects
African Americans
Air forces
Aircraft
Armed forces
Bomber aircraft
Military aviation
Military history
War
Warfare
World wars
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Summary:This article discusses the nature of race relations in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War. America's first all-black flying units, the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, trained at segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, carried out tactical and strategic missions over North Africa and southern Europe in the last two years of the war. While overseas, the black airmen experienced both positive and negative racial relationships with other fighter and bomber units of the Army Air Forces, relationships which often affected the morale and combat effectiveness of the 99th and 332nd. The wartime success of the "Tuskegee Experiment" gave impetus to President Harry S. Truman's integration of the U.S. armed forces in 1948.
ISSN:0899-3718
1543-7795
1543-7795
DOI:10.1353/jmh.2003.0244