Black Eagle Squadron (1983)

the American military has headquarters here in Washington DC from the White House in the Pentagon building our leaders run a worldwide military network from early colonial times till today black Americans have played important roles in the making of our country and our military history this film will show you a little bit of that history here at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier several Army guards March 24 hours a day to honor our unknown military dead unknown to most Americans is the fact that black Americans were flying in the US Army Air Corp during World War II during the early months of World War II which started in 1941 black Americans were reluctantly allowed to enlist in the US Army Air Corp they were trained at a new Army Air Base in Alabama called Tuskegee after basic flight training at Tuskegee several Tuskegee Airmen were sent here for advanced Flight Training this is Sri Airbase near Detroit Michigan the Air Force Thunderbird flying team is flying in for a air show here the Precision flying is a good example of the teamwork involved in running a large complex organization like the US Air Corp self has a long history as a military Air Base the Tuskegee Airmen are part of that history the black Airmen were stationed here and an army air bases in Africa and Europe now it's been over 40 years since World War II ended the Tuskegee Airmen have returned to Selfridge to be a part of the air show in the early 1970s the black veterans formed a national organization called the Tuskegee Airmen they are dedicated to helping black youth get into college and Aviation by providing scholarships and being role models and also maintaining a museum in Detroit Michigan at historic Fort Wayne members of the Detroit Chapter Tuskegee Airman meet for a reunion with the B25 medium bomber several of these Airmen were in in the 477 Bomb Group the 477 was made up of three squadrons of B25 with all black Crews most of the tusky gmen were college men Elmore Kennedy on the left was a B25 squadron commander most of the Tuskegee gmen were college men they had either graduated from college or had a few years of college training xb2 pilot Robert Walker Walker's here on the right Alexander Jefferson's in the middle Nate Carr is on the left after the 477 Bomb Group was activated they were stationed at godman field in Kentucky later they moved to Freeman field in Indiana the P-51 Mustang was used by the Tuskegee Airman as their Mainline aircraft in Italy it's a fighter aircraft the B17 Flying Fortress was the most used heavy bomber used by the Army Air Corp to bomb Nazi Europe the B17 squadrons were based in England quite often the black airman's mission for the day would be flying protective escort for the B7 squadrons flying out of England several of the Tuskegee Airmen were killed overseas some were shot down by German pilots and anti-aircraft guns some were killed in flying accidents 66 were casualties for the young Airmen Africa and Italy was their first time out of the United States that and flying for the Army made it the adventure of a lifetime friendships were made that would endure for the rest of their lives Italy is a country with a long recorded history a showcase for history the airman's life over there meant months of living in crowded tents and sleeping on folding carts the food was the same canned food that the rest of the regular army units received the airbases were temporary installations set up for a few months use the trips overseas were made on crowded troop ships any veteran who's ever been on one will tell you about how crowded they were the journey to Europe usually took about four or five days most of these young men did a lot of growing up fast in North Africa and Italy the discipline they learned in the military would benefit them for the rest of their lives one of those Airmen on the left Charlie Hill returned to Detroit Michigan to become a school teacher to him Italy was a beautiful country in spite of the war and all the destruction every place he said that the Italians were nice people the ground crewman had their work cut out for them somehow they keep they managed to keep the pilots flying the months of training the Airmen receed now became the difference between life and death as they flew out on regular combat missions the Airmen found that the training that they had received would make a big difference in the way they survived in combat most of these men knew that their life was on the line and if they weren't better than the other Pilots they were up against they wouldn't be going back to the United States they wouldn't make it back the B25 squadrons were not sent overseas they were always plagued by a shortage of trained personnel Elmore Kennedy and Robert Walker these are the men who flew the b-25s and maintained the b-25s it's a very proud part of our aviation history to have had these medium bomber Squad squadrons out there flying on the combat conditions during wartime wanting to go overseas but they never did get sent over Seas they were never caught orders to go overseas these are our B25 pilots and crewman the B25 Pilots say that the B25 was a smooth flying well-engineered aircraft the airc used a process of elimination to scream these men as they went through TKE flight school only the best survived the reunion is about over now and the pilots are saying goodbye all of the military services were integrated by President Truman in 1949 since then minorities and women have been and continue to be valued workers in our military services for