Tuskegee Airmen

A Soaring Legacy

The Tuskegee Airmen served the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. These pilots and ground crews were trained between 1941 and 1946 at the Civilian Flight Training Program at Tuskegee Institute, near Montgomery, Alabama. Eventually, the group of 992 pilots from 44 classes, including liaison and service pilots, graduated from advanced flying training at Tuskegee Army Air Field. Their exceptional record of service and heroism on missions in the European Theatre of Operations and North Africa led to the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948. The 332nd Fighter Group, which includes the 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302nd fighter squadrons, was the first all-African American unit in the Army Air Forces. The field of Tuskegee personnel was expanded to 14,000 to include navigators, bombardiers, crew chiefs, mechanics, flight surgeons, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel – both men and women.

About the Artist

These portraits were a gift to the Supreme Court of Ohio from artist, Robert E. Tanner Sr., in 2008. The five oil paintings are part of a 10-part body of work by the Delaware County artist. Tanner combined his respect for the Tuskegee Airmen, his love of aviation, and his artistic talents to create the series of portraits showing the faces of men who helped change history.

Tanner donated the paintings to the Supreme Court of Ohio in the hope the public would view them and remember a group of men who fought for the United States and contributed to the historic social change toward racial equality in America. Tanner was an illustrator for North American Aviation before working as a graphic designer for the Battelle Memorial Institute. As a young boy Tanner had a fascination with WWII aircraft, particularly the P-51 Mustangs that were flown by the Tuskegee Airmen. His interest in the Mustang was renewed as an adult as he learned more about the Tuskegee Airmen. He began the series of paintings with General Davis and General James “because of their significant role in the Tuskegee story,” he said. “After that, it was just an art choice because there were so many incredible stories of the Tuskegee men and women. I felt these five would be representative of all the airmen who played a role in the defense of our country during our war years.”

General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (1912-2002) was born in Washington, D.C., to a military family and graduated high school in Cleveland. He received an appointment in 1932 to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in the top 20% of his class. The Army wanted an African American graduate of West Point to command the Tuskegee squadron, so within a year of Davis earning his wings in March 1942, he commanded a unit of 1,000 Black pilots, which came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen and became the commander of the 332nd Fighter Group.

Under Davis’s command, the Tuskegee Airmen downed more than twice the number of aircraft they lost, destroyed countless miles of rail lines, and sunk more than 40 ships, including an enemy destroyer. Davis received a Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service during World War II.

Following the war, in 1946, he served as base commander of Lockbourne Army Air Base near Columbus, and in 1947 he became commander of the 447th Composite Group at Lockbourne, which became the 332nd Fighter Wing – one of the first all-Black flying units in the U.S. Air Force.

Following service in the Korean War, Davis went on to become the first African American general in the U.S. Air Force and was promoted to full general following his retirement. His military decorations include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

General Davis is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

General Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. (1920-1978) is best remembered as being the first African American to reach the rank of 4-Star General in the U.S. Armed Forces, as the Commander-in-Chief of North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and Air Force Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM).

Chappie was born in Pensacola, Florida, the youngest of 17 children, and he enrolled at Tuskegee Institute, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1942. His tour of duty in WWII was training pilots for the all-Black 99th Pursuit Squadron at the U.S. Army Air Corps flying school at Tuskegee Army Air Field.

He went on to complete the civilian pilot training program under the government-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program and then completed fighter pilot combat training at Selfridge Field, Michigan. In the Korean War, he flew 101 combat missions in the P-51 Mustang and the F-80 Shooting Star aircraft and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1950.

In July 1951, he returned to the U.S. and was assigned to Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, as an all-weather jet fighter pilot with the 58th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, later becoming its operations officer.

In 1966, he became Vice Wing Commander of the Eighth Tactical Fighter Wing in Thailand under the command of Colonel Robin Olds and flew 78 combat missions over North Vietnam, many in the Hanoi/Haiphong area. He led a flight in the "Operation Bolo" MiG sweep in which seven Communist MiG-21s were destroyed, the highest total kill of any mission during the Vietnam War.

In 1970, he returned to the U.S., and became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C., as a brigadier general and was designated principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. In 1974, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and assumed duty as vice commander of the Military Airlift Command (MAC), headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. In 1975, he was promoted to the rank of general and became the Commander-in-Chief of NORAD/ADCOM at Peterson Air Force Base, with operational command of all United States and Canadian strategic aerospace defense forces. His promotion to four-star general made him the first African American four-star general in the history of the U.S. Air Force.

He retired from active duty in 1978 as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, with 35 years of continued active-duty service. General James died of a heart attack at the age of 58, just three weeks after his retirement from the U.S. Air Force. He was inducted (posthumously) into the national Aviation Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2018, 30 years after his untimely death, the city of Pensacola dedicated the General Chappie James Museum and Flight Academy, located at his childhood home at 1608 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. He was a rated command pilot and his military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and Presidential Unit Citation.

He was widely known for his speeches on Americanism and patriotism, and his grave marker inscription at Arlington National Cemetery reads: “THIS IS MY COUNTRY AND I BELIEVE IN HER – I’LL PROTECT HER AGAINST ALL ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.”

Colonel George S. "Spanky" Roberts Sr. (1918-1984) Colonel Roberts, a native of London, West Virginia, graduated from high school at age 15 and received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical arts from West Virginia State University. He enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program Unit III in 1939 and was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen’s very first class at the Tuskegee Institute. He flew 100 combat missions in WWII and became commander of the 332nd Fighter Group in 1945. In 1982, Colonel Roberts was featured in the Black Wings exhibit at the Smithsonian dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen.

He returned to Tuskegee as a member of the faculty by teaching Air Science and Tactics to aspiring pilots. In 1950, he became the first African American officer to command a racially integrated unit at Langley (Maryland) Air Force Base and was the first African American commander of Chanute (Rantoul, Illinois) Air Force Base. His awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, seven commendation medals, and two Presidential Unit citations. He worked on the F-104 Starfighter project at McClellan Air Force base while later serving as the Deputy Director of Logistics for fighter operations in Vietnam and space missiles and logistics in the Pacific Ocean area.

Roberts retired from the military in 1968 with the rank of Colonel. When Colonel Roberts died suddenly in 1984, his widow Edith – known as “Edo” to many – vowed to keep George’s legacy and that of the Tuskegee Airmen alive. She became known as “The First Lady of Tuskegee Airmen.” Edo died in 2015 in Sacramento, California, at the age of 95.

Captain Louis R. Purnell Sr. (1920-2001) Captain Purnell was a native of Snow Hill, Maryland. He joined the Civilian Pilot Training program, earned his pilot’s license, then enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Tuskegee. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant with the 99th Pursuit Squadron and was credited with 88 combat missions over North Africa; Sicily; Italy; and Germany. Captain Purnell became the first African American curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and was integral in the 1983 opening of Black Wings, which later became a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen.

For his service, Captain Purnell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with six Oak Leave Clusters. After the war he enrolled at Howard University, earning a degree in psychology, serving as a speech therapist, and later a government contracting agent.

In 1961, he took a job as a specialist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History division of invertebrate zoology. This led to his enrollment at George Washington University for advanced studies in paleobiology, which led to his publishing a marine invertebrate research catalog. After his retirement, Captain Purnell served as a consultant to the Smithsonian, lectured about aviation, and shared lessons about his service to our nation as a Tuskegee Airman. He donated his flying wings and other items to the Smithsonian for permanent display. Captain Purnell is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Lt. Colonel Harry T. Stewart Jr. (1924 -     ) Lt. Colonel Stewart is a native of Newport News, Virginia, and grew up in Queens, New York. At age 18 Stewart volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps and passed the pilot cadet exam. He was a member of Tuskegee Airmen Class 44-F-SE and was awarded his pilot wings, and was one of only four Tuskegee Airmen to earn three aerial victories in a single day of combat, downing three Me-109s.

In 1949, Colonel Stewart was a member of the team of fighter pilots from the 332d Fighter Group at Lockbourne Air Force Base to win the USAF Gunnery Competition.

After the war ended, Colonel Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1949, Colonel Stewart was a member of the team of fighter pilots from the 332nd Fighter Group based at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus invited by the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff to compete in the USAF Gunnery Competition (also known by many as the “Top Gun” competition), competing in the Conventional (piston-powered/propeller) Division.

The 1949 Gunnery Competition was a 10-day event held at the Las Vegas (Nellis) Air Force Base and comprised of aerial gunnery at 20,000 feet, aerial gunnery at 12,000 feet, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocketing firing, and panel strafing. Stewart’s team, which flew the obsolete F-47N, a variant of the Thunderbolt, led the competition from start to finish and claimed the three-foot high winning silver trophy, which is now on permanent display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton.

Colonel Stewart went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from New York University in mechanical engineering and enjoyed a successful career in the natural gas industry. In 2007, Colonel Stewart and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the nation’s oldest and highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal. On July 4, 2024, Colonel Stewart celebrated his 100^th birthday.