Episode 81: The Tuskegee Airmen

Despite the bravery of black troops in the First World War, the U.S. Armed Forces were reluctant to admit African-Americans at the start of World War II. Under increasing public pressure, the Army Air Corps set up a training center for Black Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama. In April of 1943, the first class to graduate from the Tuskegee Institute were designated the 99th Pursuit Squadron in North Africa. Due to segregation within the Armed service, the squadron was all-black, but the bomber groups they escorted were not. The Tuskegee Airmen achieved distinction in the aerial assault of the Italian island at Pantelleria, and would live on as trailblazing legends in American history.