The Tuskegee Airmen     On July 19, 1941, the Army Air Force began a program in Alabama to train black Americans as military pilots. Primary flight training was conducted by the Division of Aeronautics of Tuskegee Institute, the famed school of learning founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881. Once a cadet completed primary training at Tuskegee's Moton Field, he was sent to nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field for completion of flight training and for transition to combat type aircraft. The first classes of Tuskegee airmen were trained to be fighter pilots for the famous 99th Fighter Squadron, slated for combat duty in North Africa. Additional pilots were assigned to the 332d Fighter Group which flew combat along with the 99th Squadron from bases in Italy.   The 332nd Fighter Group conducted long-range heavy bomber escort missions for the 15th Strategic Air Force. The Group established the incredible and unprecedented record of flying all of its bomber escort missions (200 over most of central and southern Europe) without the loss of a single bomber to enemy aircraft.   In Sep. 1943, a twin-engine training program was begun at Tuskegee to provide bomber pilots. However, World War II ended before these men were able to get into combat.   By the end of the war, 992 men had graduated from pilot training at Tuskegee, 450 of whom were sent overseas for combat assignment. During the same period, approximately 150 lost their lives while in training or on combat flights.   The "Double Vee" is named in honor of the historic "Double V" campaign that occurred during World War II. Waged by the Tuskegee Airmen early during World War II, the campaign stood for victory abroad against the Axis powers and a victory at home against the prejudicial attitudes faced by the Airmen.
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