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Tuskegee Airmen Background

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This background paper is on the Tuskegee Airmen. It will highlight the aircraft flown, combat record, and overall historical significance. Some of the aircraft flown by the Tuskegee Airmen were the B-17 Flying Fortresses, the P-51 Mustangs, and the P-47 fighters.1 Another aircraft flown was the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft, in which the Tuskegee Airmen flew hundreds of patrol and attack missions for the Twelfth Air Force.2 In addition, the Bell P-39 Airacobra was used for the first combat mission, while some members were assigned to the 477th Medium Bombardment Group, which trained at Selfridge Field to fly B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. The 332nd Fighter Group at first used P-47 airplanes, but eventually traded them for P-51 Mustangs, the …show more content…
According to Haulman (2011), the group had “lost bombers on at least six of more than 130 escort missions flown and out of a total of 311 missions for the Fifteenth Air Force, only 179 of these were bomber escort missions”.4 According to Haulman (2008), “During World War II, 72 Tuskegee Airmen shot down 112 enemy aircraft, including the best of the German fighters.”5 The combat record of the Tuskegee Airmen was a huge feat for these Airmen and contributed to the group’s overall historical significant impact on America. During World War II, a group of young men called the Tuskegee Airmen, became America’s first African American military airmen in 1941.6 This group was unique because it was the only one of the Fifteenth Air Force combat groups composed of African-Americans who entered combat in World War II.7 This group of individuals were talented, devoted, and unwavering, enlisting at a time when society had thought black men did not have the aptitude, proficiency, bravery and devotion to be in America’s military.8 The Tuskegee Airmen’s overall historical significance consisted of becoming military heroes, the forerunners for racial fairness, and contributing to the interminable integration of the military, and the expansive integration of American society.9 These Airmen were able to put up more fighters per operation and better able to safeguard the bombers they were appointed to guard, causing them to lose significantly less

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