Willard's Awesome Blog: Social Studies Time

We are switching it up a bit. Today, we are going to talk about the Tuskegee Airmen. I know this is a Science blog, but in honor of Black History Month we are going to have some SOCIAL STUDES TIME.

The question of the day is:Who are the Tuskegee Airmen?
Well, the Tuskegee Airman were the first group of elite African-American pilots to serve as military aviators in the U.S armed forces. They were pioneers for the equality and the integration of the Armed Forces. The Tuskegee Airmen included 996 pilots and more than 15,000 ground personnel of navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff and instructors.

Tuskegee Airmen pose in front of a P-40 fighter in 1942 or 1943

The main flight training for for the Tuskegee Airmen took place at the Division of Aeronautics at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The U.S Air Corps built a separate facility at the Tuskegee Army Air Field to train the pilots. Eleanor Roosevelt played a major role in establishing the training facility. The First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was very interested in the work at the Tuskegee Institute, especially at the aeronautical school. In 1941 she visited Tuskegee. When she was there, she got in the back seat of a plane which was flown by a black pilot called Charles Alfred. Against the wishes of the Secret Service agents and President Roosevelt, she flew about half an hour over Tuskegee , Alabama. When she landed, Mrs. Roosevelt was convinced that black pilots could fly. When Mrs. Roosevelt returned to Washington, she convinced her husband to allow the first Negro Air Corps pilots to be trained at Tuskegee Institute.

This is the field in Tuskegee Alabama where the airmen trained.

A trip that would help change history. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and “Chief” Charles Alfred Anderson in 1941.

Although the Tuskegee Airmen proved to be dedicated, determined and superior military pilots they were still in segregated units and could not fight alongside their white countrymen. They did not only have to battle enemies during the war, but they also had to fight against racism and segregation. Many people and military officials did not want blacks to become pilots. They had to train in overcrowded classrooms and airstrips, and suffered from the racist attitudes. Although the Tuskegee Airman suffered many hardships, they proved themselves to be world class pilots.

During the time of the Tuskegee Airmen places like this were very popular through out the United States.

The Tuskegee Airmen was nicknamed "Red Tail Angels" because they had red paint on the propeller and tail of their planes and the bombers they escorted thought that they were like angels.

The Tuskegee Airmen escorting a bomber Plane.

When the war ended, 992 men had graduated from Negro Air Corps pilot training at Tuskegee and 450 of these men were sent overseas for combat assignment. There were also 150 Tuskegee Airmen who lost their lives while in training or on combat flights.

The Tuskegee Air men destroyed or damage over 409 German airplanes, 950 ground units, and sank a battleship destroyer. They also had over 200 bomber escort missions during World War II.

Please enjoy watch the clips on the Tuskegee Airmen.

The is a clip from the US Air Force

Currenty there is a movie at the theaters about the Tuskegee Airmen. This is the trailer.

This is a clip in the words of some of the original Tuskegee Airmen.

On Monday, February 27, 2012 my class visited the Atlanta History Center for our field trip. I enjoyed the field trip very much especially when we played the civil war game. In the game, I played a character whose name was William Carney. William was part of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. In the game, I had to make many decisions. For each decision I made, I could gain or lose points and these points will determine if I lived or died. My decisions were not that great because my character ended up going insane and dying.

I learn quite a bit on the field trip. The things that stuck with me the most was that many people died in Word War II. Also, during slavery black people could work better in the sun because the color of their skin protected them from getting sun burnt. Finally, during the Civil War the northern and southern states were divided because of slavery. The northern states wanted to abolish slavery but the southern sates wanted to keep slaves to work on the plantations.