Vivian R. Bournazian
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VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program,EXPLORATIONS. Today, Shirley Griffith and I tell about the Tuskegeeairmen who served in World War Two. They were the first group ofAfrican-Americans ever trained as fighter pilots.
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There was a little fog near the ground. But the sky was clear.The airplanes flew into the air. It was only a few minutes beforethe planes were flying over the Mediterranean Sea. The sea was calm,and very blue. It was July First,Nineteen-Forty-Three.
The planes were part of the United States Army Air Forces, theNinety-Ninth Pursuit Squadron. They were responsible for guardingbomber airplanes travelling to Italy.
The pilots tested their guns. Whenthey were satisfied that their guns were in firing condition, theyflew the planes into position to guard the bombers. At the targetarea, the bombers began to unload their bombs. Clouds of smoke rosefrom the explosions.
VOICE TWO:
A group of enemy fighters immediately appeared to attack thebomber planes. The enemy airplanes flew near. The pilots of theNinety-Ninth attacked them. In the battle that followed, the men ofthe Ninety-Ninth gained their first victory.
Lieutenant Charles B. Hall shot down a German airplane. He saidit was the first time he had seen the enemy close enough to shootat. He saw two German airplanes following the bombers just after thebombs were dropped.
“I headed for the space between the fighters and bombers…Ifired a long burst and saw my tracers penetrate the second aircraft.He was turning left, but suddenly fell off and headed straight intothe ground.”
Charles Hall won the Distinguished Flying Cross for his servicethat day. He and the other pilots of the Ninety-Ninth PursuitSquadron had come a long way from Tuskegee, Alabama, to fight thatbattle.
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VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Forty, blacks made upabout one-point-five percent of the American Army and Navy. But theywere not permitted to join the Army Air Forces and fly planes. Theyhad begun fighting for the right to be accepted into military pilottraining during World War One. In Nineteen-Seventeen, blacks whorequested acceptance into pilot training programs were told thatcolored air groups were not being formed at the time.
Civil rights leaders denounced the belief expressed by manywhites that blacks could not fight. In Nineteen-Thirty-One, WalterWhite and Robert R. Moton requested that the War Department acceptblacks in the Army Air Corps for pilot training. Mister White was anofficial of an important organization for blacks, the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People. Mister Moton waspresident of a respected college for blacks, the Tuskegee Institute.
The War Department refused their request. It said that the AirCorps chose men with technical experience. The department also saidthat blacks were not that interested in flying. And, it said so manyeducated white men wanted to enter the Air Corps that many whiteshad to be refused acceptance.
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The War Department’s refusal led many to feel that blacks wouldbe guaranteed acceptance into the Air Corps only through legislationby Congress. Black leaders used the United States’ preparation forand entry into World War Two to pressure Congress. They attacked theunfair treatment of blacks in the armed services.
In Nineteen-Thirty-Nine, Congress passed a bill that guaranteedblacks the right to be trained as military air pilots. It wasproposed that a pilot training camp for blacks be established atTuskegee, Alabama.
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Black leaders praised the signs of change within the military.Yet they continued to attack the military policy of racialseparation. The War Department answered the criticisms by makingplans to form several new black fighting groups. It also promoted ablack Colonel, Benjamin O. Davis Senior, to Brigadier General. And,the department appointed a black judge, William Hastie, who was headof Howard University Law School, as Civilian Aide on Negro Affairs.
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Judge Hastie first opposed the establishment of a flying trainingschool at Tuskegee. He wanted blacks to be trained along withwhites, not separately. The Air Corps, however, said there was noroom in other programs. It said establishing a school at Tuskegeewould be the fastest way to start the training program.
Judge Hastie withdrew his formal opposition to the plan, eventhough he was not satisfied with it.
Fred Patterson was president ofthe Tuskegee Institute then. He also objected to the separatetraining of black pilots at Tuskegee. He said that it was necessaryto denounce forced racial separation. Mister Patterson finallyaccepted the program at Tuskegee. He realized blacks would betrained separately from whites any place in the United States. Hesaw Tuskegee as a beginning. At least blacks were now able to bemilitary pilots.
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VOICE ONE:
The Civilian Pilot Training Program at Tuskegee trained blackpilots for difficult and dangerous flying. On March Seventh,Nineteen-Forty-Two, the first group of African-Americans ever to betrained as fighter pilots completed the program at Tuskegee. GeneralDavis’s son, Benjamin O. Davis Junior, was among the firstgraduates. Blacks finally had won the right to fly with the Army AirCorps, now known as the Army Air Forces.
Many of the men trained at Tuskegee served in Europe with theNinety-Ninth Pursuit Squadron. It was organized in October ofNineteen-Forty-Two. Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Juniorcommanded it.
The Ninety-Ninth was sent to the Mediterranean area in April,Nineteen-Forty-Three. The pilots were able to gain fightingexperience flying over Sicily and Italy. In June ofNineteen-Forty-Three, the fighter pilots successfully attacked theSicilian island of Pantelleria. It was the first time “air poweralone…completely destroyed all enemy resistance.”
The Tuskegee airmen took part in the most famous battles inItaly. These included the battles over the Monte Cassino monasterybetween Rome and Naples and the invasions of Salerno and Anzio. AtAnzio, in January of Nineteen-Forty-Four, the pilots of theNinety-Ninth squadron shot down eighteen enemy airplanes. Theirperformance earned them two awards. And, their record led the ArmyAir Forces to decide to use more black pilots in the war.
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In September, Nineteen-Forty-Three, Colonel Davis becamecommander of the Three-Hundred-Thirty-Second Fighter Group. TheNinety-Ninth squadron became a part of the group. There werefour-hundred-fifty pilots in the all-black group. They flew morethan fifteen-thousand-five-hundred flights in southern France,Greece, the Balkans and finally in Germany.
The Tuskegee airmen guarded bomber airplanes. They destroyed morethan one-hundred enemy airplanes in the air and one-hundred-fiftyothers on the ground. They flew more than two-hundred combat flightsin Germany in Nineteen-Forty-Five. Not one allied bomber fell toenemy fighters when guarded by the Tuskegee airmen. They wereconsidered the best at their job.
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VOICE ONE:
Nine-Hundred-Ninety-Six black pilots were trained at TuskegeeAirfield before World War Two ended. For black Americans duringWorld War Two, the Tuskegee airmen represented both honor andinequality. Eighty-five of them won the Distinguished Flying Crossduring the war. Yet their separation from white troops was apowerful sign of the racial policies of the military.
History books say the Tuskegee airman proved that black men couldfly modern airplanes in highly successful combat operations. And,the success of the group helped end the separate racial policies ofthe American military. In Nineteen-Forty-Eight, President Trumanordered the armed forces to provide equal treatment for blackservicemen. The next year, the Air Force, which no longer was partof the army, announced that black and white airmen no longer wouldbe separated.
Back in civilian life, many of the Tuskegee airman becamelawyers, doctors, judges, congressmen and mayors. Their fightingspirit had helped them survive battles and unequal treatment. Athome, their continued fighting spirit helped lead the way to civilrights progress in the United States.
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VOICE TWO:
This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian.This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week at this time foranother EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.