Existing comment:
The 99th Fighter Squadron, First Into Battle:
The passage of the Selective Training and Service Act outlawed discrimination in the armed forces and required that the services open all military specialties to qualified African-Americans. Military aviation, from which blacks had always been barred, was now an option. As "Separate but Equal" was still the law of the land in 1940, the War Department was compelled to establish separate aviation units for its black personnel.
In early 1941, the War Department formed the 99th Pursuit Squadron (later re-designated the 99th Fighter Squadron). The 99th FS would be manned by the aviators and support personnel that were training at the Tuskegee Institute and other training sites around the country. By July 1942, the 99th FS has reached its full strength and was undergoing advanced training. This training would continue for another nine months before the 99th would be the first African-American aviation unit deployed to combat. The delay in deploying the 99th was typical of the sluggish way the War Department moved regarding matters concerning the use of African-American units and personnel. The 99th flew its first combat mission on 6 June 1943, when an element of the squadron participated in bombing Pantalleria, an Axis island stronghold in the Mediterranean Sea.
On 2 July, Lt. Charles B. Hall achieved the squadron's first aerial victory when he downed a Focke-Wulf 190 over Sicily. After a rough start, the 99th found its footing and made its presence felt. Over the Anzio beachhead, pilots of the 99th FS would down 17 enemy aircraft, the most of any American fighter squadron involved in the operation. Early in 1944, three African-American fighter squadrons of the 332nd Fighter Group arrived in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. |