The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The 99th Pursuit Squadron later the 99th Fighter Squadron was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas to North Africa in April , and later to Sicily and other parts of Italy.
The nd Fighter Group , which originally included the th, st and nd Fighter Squadrons, was the first black flying group. It deployed to Italy in early In June , the nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions and, in July , with the addition of the 99th Fighter Squadron, it had four fighter squadrons. The nd Fighter Group and its th, st and nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P Airacobras March , later with Republic P Thunderbolts June—July and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P Mustang July When the pilots of the nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their Ps red, the nickname "Red Tails" was coined.
The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of Ps as well as a red empennage ; the PB, C and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside of the army. In , African-American men had tried to become aerial observers but were rejected. Bullard returned to infantry duty with the French.
The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked more than two decades of advocacy by African Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators. Philip Randolph , and Judge William H. Schwartz designating funds for training African-American pilots. The War Department managed to put the money into funds of civilian flight schools that were willing to train black Americans. War Department tradition and policy mandated the segregation of African Americans into separate military units staffed by white officers, as had been done previously with the 9th Cavalry , 10th Cavalry , 24th Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry regiments.
When the appropriation of funds for aviation training created opportunities for pilot cadets, their numbers diminished the rosters of these older units. Because of the restrictive nature of selection policies, the situation did not seem promising for African Americans, since in the U. Census Bureau reported there were only African-American pilots in the nation.
