The April 2nd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that William Hicks, a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, spoke before a high school history class about this units role in World War II.
During the war, he was a mechanic on P-51 Fighters.
Before Congress authorized this unit, there were no black pilots because of segregation and a 1920s study that blacks were unable to fly or maintain planes. They trained at the historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, hence the name of the group.
Their main job was to escort B-17s and B-24s on bombing missions. Each of these carried about ten men and cost between $8 and $10 million.
Overcoming a Horrible Thing with Honor, --Da Coot
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