Editing Tuskegee Airmen (section)

====Background====
[[File:P51 Mustang Red Tail.jpg|thumb|The [[North American P-51 Mustang|P-51C Mustang]] flown by the [[Commemorative Air Force]] in the markings of the 302nd Fighter Squadron as a tribute to [[Lee Archer (pilot)|Lieutenant Colonel Lee Archer]].]]
[[File:Tuskegee Airman P-51 Mustang taken at Airventure.JPG|thumb|Tuskegee Airman P-51 Mustang taken at Airventure. This particular P-51C is part of the [[Red Tail Squadron|Red Tail Project]]]]
[[File:Spirit of Tuskegee plane.jpg|thumb|The [[Boeing-Stearman Model 75|Stearman Kaydet training aircraft]] used by the Tuskegee Airmen, bearing the name ''Spirit of Tuskegee'']]
[[File:Tuskegee airman2.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Tuskegee airman Edward M. Thomas by photographer [[Toni Frissell]], March 1945]]
Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African American had been a U.S. military [[aviator|pilot]]. In 1917, African-American men had tried to become aerial observers but were rejected.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|pp=38–9}} African-American [[Eugene Bullard]] served in the French air service during World War I because he was not allowed to serve in an American unit. Bullard returned to infantry duty with the French.{{sfn|Lloyd|2000|p=176}}

The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked more than two decades of advocacy by African Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators. The effort was led by such prominent [[civil rights]] leaders as [[Walter Francis White|Walter White]] of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP), labor union leader [[A.&nbsp;Philip Randolph]], and Judge [[William&nbsp;H. Hastie]]. Finally, on 3 April 1939, Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress containing an amendment by Senator [[Henry H. Schwartz|Harry H. Schwartz]] designating funds for training African-American pilots. The [[United States Department of War|War Department]] managed to put the money into funds of civilian flight schools that were willing to train black Americans.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|pp=38–9}}

War Department tradition and policy mandated the segregation of African Americans into separate military units staffed by white officers, as had been done previously with the [[9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|9th Cavalry]], [[10th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|10th Cavalry]], [[24th Infantry Regiment (United States)|24th Infantry Regiment]] and [[25th Infantry Regiment (United States)|25th Infantry]] regiments.

When the appropriation of funds for aviation training created opportunities for pilot cadets, their numbers diminished the rosters of these older units.{{sfn|Moye|2010|p=19}} In 1941, the War Department and the Army Air Corps, under pressure — [[1941 in aviation#June|three months]] before its transformation into the [[USAAF]] — constituted the first all-black flying unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/tuskegee-airmen.cfm|title=The Tuskegee Airmen|website=www2.gwu.edu|access-date=30 January 2018|archive-date=19 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119133057/https://www.gwu.edu/%7Eerpapers/teachinger/glossary/tuskegee-airmen.cfm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Because of the restrictive nature of selection policies, the situation did not seem promising for African Americans, since in 1940 the U.S. Census Bureau reported there were only 124 African-American pilots in the nation.{{sfn|Moye|2010|p=25}} The exclusionary policies failed dramatically when the Air Corps received an abundance of applications from men who qualified, even under the restrictive requirements. Many of the applicants had already participated in the [[Civilian Pilot Training Program]], unveiled in late December 1938 (CPTP). [[Tuskegee University]] had participated since 1939.{{sfn|Benton|1999|loc=p. 43 (Noel F. Parrish)}}