Tuskegee Airmen Monument

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Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. is a non-profit organization with 55 Chapters nationwide and is a reminder of the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American aerial combat unit that overcame racism and segregation to fly missions throughout Europe and Northern Africa during World War II.

According to the TAI website, the organization's mission is to bring together, in a spirit of friendship and goodwill, all persons who share in the aspirations and successes of the men and women who pioneered in military aviation and in the Tuskegee experience. The group is dedicated to fostering recognition of, and preserving the history of, African American achievements in aviation and to inspire and motivate young men and women toward endeavors in aviation and aerospace careers[1]

This statue, honoring America’s first Black military airmen in World War II, is situated on the grounds of Colleton County's Lowcountry Regional Airport in South Carolina, where the namesake troops received flight training before deployment.[2]

History

The Tuskegee Airmen Monument. Photographer  Mark Reinstein, Corbis Historical

The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial on the grounds of Colleton County‘s Lowcountry Regional Airport commemorates the heroism of the determined young men who enlisted in world War II to become America’s first black military airmen. Before being sent into action, the now famous Tuskegee Airmen received their final months of combat training here, at what was then the Walterboro Army Airfield.

The airmen trained each day from dawn to dusk for three months before their overseas deployment. They learned to fly three types of planes: The Air Cobra, the Thunderbolt, and the Kittyhawk. The nose-heavy Thunderbolt – nicknamed “The Jug” – was the most difficult. Five men died flying it during training exercises.

During the war, 1,000 Tuskegee Airmen flew 1,578 missions which involved over 15,000 attacks. Legend has it that the airmen, also known as the Red Tails, never lost an aircraft they escorted over enemy territory. While this is untrue, the Red Tails had one of the lowest loss records of all escort fighter groups. Although segregation was still widespread in America, many white bomber crews made special requests for the black pilots to be their escorts. In 1948 President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which called for the equal treatment and opportunity of people of all races in the United States Armed Forces. This action led to eventual desegregation in the military.[3]


Reference

  1. Airman 1st Class Tom Brading . Keeping the spirit of the Tuskegee Airmen alive. November 8, 2011. Jbcharleston. Retrieved January 28, 2021
  2. Nikki Ekstein and Claire Ballentine. The Best Anti-Racist Monuments to Visit in America. 6 Agustus 2020. Bloomberg. Retrieved January 28, 2021
  3. TUSKEGEE AIRMEN MONUMENT. Scpictureproject. Retrieved January 28, 2021