Editing Tuskegee Airmen (section)

===Formation===
[[File:First Tuskeegee Class.jpg|thumb|right|Major James A. Ellison returns the salute of Mac Ross, as he reviews the first class of Tuskegee cadets; flight line at U.S. Army Air Corps basic and advanced flying school, with [[Vultee BT-13]] trainers in the background, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1941]]
On 22 March 1941, the [[99th Fighter Squadron|99th Pursuit Squadron]]{{#tag:ref|"Pursuit" being the U.S. term for "fighter" to May 1942.|group=N}} was activated without pilots at [[Chanute Field]] in [[Rantoul, Illinois]].{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=15}}{{sfn|Moye|2010|pp=26–37}}{{#tag:ref|It may have been a lawsuit from a rejected candidate, that caused the USAAC to accept black applicants. [[Yancey Williams]], an African American otherwise qualified for military pilot's training, filed suit in the District Court in Washington, DC for admittance to training. He was backed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.|group=N}}<ref name=FraCas2008>{{cite book |last1=Francis |first1=Charles |last2=Caso |first2=Adolph |date=2008 |title=Tuskegee Airmen - 5th Commemorative Edition with Class Pictures |location=Wellesley, [[Massachusetts|MA]] |publisher=Branden Books |isbn=978-0828321891 |page=309}}</ref>

A cadre of 14 black non-commissioned officers from the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments were sent to Chanute Field to help in the administration and supervision of the trainees. A white officer, Army Captain Harold R. Maddux, was assigned as the first commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron.{{r|FraCas2008}}<ref name=Haulman2017>{{cite book |last=Haulman |first=Daniel Lee |date=2017 |title=The Tuskegee Airmen chronology : a detailed timeline of the Red Tails and other black pilots of World War II |others=Foreword by McGee, Charles E. |location=Montgomery AL |publisher=NewSouth Books |isbn=978-1588383419 |pages=9, 11, 12 |oclc=1002126644}}</ref>

A group of 271 enlisted men began training in aircraft ground support trades at Chanute Field in March 1941 until they were transferred to bases in Alabama in July 1941.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Maurer |editor-first=M. |date=1992 |title=World War II combat squadrons of the United States Air Force: the official military record of every active squadron |location=New York |publisher=Smithmark |isbn=978-0831715014 |oclc=25200303}}</ref> The skills being taught were so technical that setting up segregated classes was deemed impossible. This small number of enlisted men became the core of other black squadrons forming at [[Sharpe Field|Tuskegee]] Fields in Alabama.{{sfn|Moye|2010|p=57}}<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Maurer |editor-first=M. |date=1983 |title=Air Force combat units of World War II |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Office of Air Force History |isbn=0912799021 |oclc=9644436}}</ref>

While the enlisted men were in training, five black youths were admitted to the Officers Training School (OTS) at Chanute Field as aviation cadets. Specifically, Elmer D. Jones, Dudley Stevenson, and James Johnson of Washington, DC; Nelson Brooks of Illinois, and William R. Thompson of Pittsburgh, PA successfully completed OTS and were commissioned as the first Black Army Air Corps Officers.{{r|FraCas2008}}

In June 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was transferred to Tuskegee, Alabama, and remained the only black flying unit in the country, but did not yet have pilots.{{r|Haulman2017}} The famous airmen were actually trained at five airfields surrounding Tuskegee University (formerly Tuskegee Institute)--Griel, Kennedy, Moton, Shorter, and Tuskegee Army Air Fields.<ref name=":1" /> The flying unit consisted of 47 officers and 429 enlisted men<ref>[http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15469 "Fact sheet:Tuskegee Airmen"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019085202/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15469 |date=19 October 2010}}, National Museum of the United States Air Force; retrieved 22 October 2010.</ref> and was backed by an entire service arm. On 19 July 1941, thirteen individuals made up the first class of aviation cadets (42-C) when they entered preflight training at Tuskegee Institute.{{r|Haulman2017}} After primary training at [[Moton Field]], they were moved to the nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field, about {{convert|10|mi|km}} to the west for conversion training onto operational types. Consequently, Tuskegee Army Air Field became the only Army installation performing three phases of pilot training (basic, advanced, and transition) at a single location. Initial planning called for 500 personnel in residence at a time.{{sfn|Moye|2010|pp=93–4}}

By mid-1942, over six times that many were stationed at Tuskegee, even though only two squadrons were training there.{{sfn|Homan|Reilly|2001|p=68}}
[[File:Tuskegee airman poster.jpg|thumb|left|[[Series E bond|War Bonds]] poster featuring a Tuskegee Airman]]
Tuskegee Army Airfield was similar to already-existing airfields reserved for training white pilots, such as Maxwell Field, only {{convert|40|mi|km}} distant.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=233}} African-American contractor [[McKissack & McKissack|McKissack and McKissack, Inc.]] was in charge of the contract. The company's 2,000 workmen, the Alabama [[Works Progress Administration]], and the U.S. Army built the airfield in only six months. The construction was budgeted at $1,663,057.{{sfn|Homan|Reilly|2001|pp=31–2}} The airmen were placed under the command of [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]] [[Benjamin O. Davis Jr.]], one of only two black line officers then serving.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111740/tuskegee-airman-goes-on-to-become-first-air-force-african-american-general/|title=Tuskegee Airman goes on to become first Air Force African-American gen|website=U.S. Air Force|date=6 February 2012|language=en-US|access-date=31 December 2018|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231093120/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111740/tuskegee-airman-goes-on-to-become-first-air-force-african-american-general/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During training, Tuskegee Army Air Field was commanded first by Major James Ellison. Ellison made great progress in organizing the construction of the facilities needed for the military program at Tuskegee. However, he was transferred on 12 January 1942, reputedly because of his insistence that his African-American sentries and [[Military Police]] had police authority over local [[white American|white]] civilians.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=56}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Jakeman |first=Robert J. |date=2015 |title=The Divided Skies Establishing Segregated Flight Training at Tuskegee, Alabama, 1934–1942 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0817392154 |oclc=1132255062}}</ref>

His successor, Colonel [[Frederick Kimble]], then oversaw operations at the Tuskegee airfield.<ref name=afhrastudy91pdf134>{{cite web |url=https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |title=Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers, 1917–1952, Volume 1 – A thru L |year=1953 |last=Fogerty |first=Robert P. |pages=994–996 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]] |id= USAF historical studies: no. 91 |access-date=November 9, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831192543/https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-134.pdf |archive-date=August 31, 2021}}</ref> Contrary to new Army regulations, Kimble maintained segregation on the field in deference to local customs in the state of Alabama, a policy that was resented by the airmen.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=233}} Later that year, the Air Corps replaced Kimble. His replacement had been the director of training at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Major [[Noel F. Parrish]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Gene |title=Colonel Parrish's Orders |journal=American Heritage |volume=46 |issue=3 - May/June 1995 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/colonel-parrish%E2%80%99s-orders?page=show |access-date=11 June 2011 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209193155/https://www.americanheritage.com/colonel-parrishs-orders?page=show |url-status=live }}</ref> Counter to the prevalent racism of the day, Parrish was fair and open-minded and petitioned Washington to allow the Tuskegee Airmen to serve in combat.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=258}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tuskegee Army Flying School Summary|journal=Air Force Historical Research Agency|via=Call Number 289.28-100}}</ref>

[[File:Airglasspilotcert-NPS.jpg|thumb|Instrument certificate for Tuskegee Airman Robert M. Glass, signed by Parrish]]
The strict racial segregation the U.S. Army required gave way in the face of the requirements for complex training in technical vocations. Typical of the process was the development of separate African-American [[flight surgeon]]s to support the operations and training of the Tuskegee Airmen.<ref name=FlightSurgeon>Jones, D.R., L.P. Gross and R. Marchbanks-Robinson. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091130014406/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7973 "United States Army Aeromedical Support to African Fliers, 1941–1949: The Tuskegee Flight Surgeons"]}}, ''SAM-FE-BR-TR-2007-0001: US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine'' (2007); retrieved 20 March 2010.</ref> Before the development of this unit, no U.S. Army flight surgeons had been black.

Training of African-American men as aviation medical examiners was conducted through correspondence courses, until 1943, when two black physicians were admitted to the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine at [[Randolph Field, Texas]]. This was one of the earliest racially integrated courses in the U.S. Army. Seventeen flight surgeons served with the Tuskegee Airmen from 1941 to 1949. At that time, the typical tour of duty for a U.S. Army flight surgeon was four years. Six of these physicians lived under field conditions during operations in North Africa, Sicily, and other parts of Italy. The chief flight surgeon to the Tuskegee Airmen was [[Vance H. Marchbanks Jr.]], MD, a childhood friend of Benjamin Davis.<ref name=FlightSurgeon/>

The accumulation of washed-out cadets at Tuskegee and the propensity of other commands to "dump" African-American personnel on the post exacerbated the difficulties of administering Tuskegee. A shortage of jobs for them made these enlisted men a drag on Tuskegee's housing and culinary departments.{{sfn|Francis|Caso|1997|p=214}}

Trained officers were also left idle as the plan to shift African-American officers into command slots stalled, and white officers not only continued to hold command but were joined by additional white officers assigned to the post. One rationale behind the non-assignment of trained African-American officers was stated by the commanding officer of the Army Air Forces, General [[Henry "Hap" Arnold]]: "Negro pilots cannot be used in our present Air Corps units since this would result in Negro officers serving over white enlisted men creating an impossible social situation."{{sfn|Moye|2010|pp=93–5}}