tails he and the other tuskegee airmen flew fighters with brightly coloured red tails, which gave them their nickname on many, many bomber escort missions over europe and they became quickly became known as some of the best best bomber escorts that could be found in europe and, you know, they their their track record spoke for itself and. a few short years after world war ii in 1949, the air force began to desegregate and the rest of the us military followed, and part of the reason is because the track record of charles mcgee and the other tuskegee airmen was so good that nobody could deny any more that they were worthy service members. remember, about a century ago, it was official us military policy that black people weren t intelligent or disciplined enough to fly aircraft. the tuskegee airmen shattered all of those stereotypes.
but we re american and the country was at war. we were just as interested in supporting that effort as anyone else at that time and so, we turned our back on the fact that there was segregation, if you will, and took advantage of the opportunity to prove that we can fly air planes, we can maintain air planes and show we can do whatever our education and aspirations, where those things lead us. stephen losey, who is air warfare reporter for defence news, told us more about charles mcgee and the tuskegee airmen. yes, he was a very fascinating man. he want he, um became a tuskegee airman when he started training in 1942. he went to europe and became part of the 332nd fighter group. he flew p 51 mustang fighters with brightly coloured red