Stand near the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit in the World War II Gallery.

The experience of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II showed that given equal opportunity and training, blacks could fly in, command and support combat units as well as anyone. The USAAF’s black fliers, the so-called “Tuskegee Airmen,” served with distinction in combat and directly contributed to the eventual integration of the U.S. armed services.

During the war, Tuskegee trained around 990 pilots and sent 350 overseas. When the war in Europe ended, the Tuskegee Airmen had shot down 112 enemy aircraft, destroyed 150 aircraft on the ground, knocked out more than 600 railroad cars, and sunk forty boats and barges. Approximately 150 Tuskegee Airmen were killed in combat or in accidents, and thirty-two became prisoners war. By any measure, the Tuskegee project proved a resounding success.

The Tuskegee experiment made it obvious to many leaders, President Harry S. Truman in particular, that segregation by race in the military - in addition to being morally wrong - was simply inefficient and should be ended. The U.S. Air Force was the first service to erase the color line, thanks largely to the pioneering efforts and courageous legacy of the African American Airmen who showed their worth in combat in World War II.