The attached three page photo-essay was found on the yellowing pages of a 1943 issue of CLICK MAGAZINE, which introduced American readers to the flying "Black Panthers" of the U.S. Army Air Force; a fighter squadron composed entirely of African American pilots, trained "at the new $2000,000 airfield in Tuskegee, Ala.". The four paragraphs that tell their story are accompanied by eight portraits of the pilots and snap-shots of the assorted ground crew, mechanics and orderlies - all Black.
"They undoubtedly will reach a combat area this summer. One squadron, the 99th, has arrived overseas already. [These] pilots, whose insignia is a flame-spewing black panther, are rarin' to join them. They want to roar a personal answer to the Axis 'race superiority' lies."
Click here to read a history of African-Americans between the years 1619 through 1939.
Read an Article about Racial Integration in the U.S. Military
