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America’s Black Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen

Khalid Elhassan April 4, 2025 16 min

1. The Distinguished Post War Career of the Tuskegee Airmen’s Commander

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. shortly after receiving his fourth star. Wikimedia

After the war, Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr. stayed in the US Army Air Forces and its successor, the independent US Air Force. When the US military was finally integrated in 1948 per an executive order of President Truman, O. Davis helped draft the Air Force’s plan to implement the president’s directive. He saw combat once again in the Korean War, this time flying an F-86 Sabre jet after he was appointed to command the 51^st Fighter-Interceptor Wing. He continued to serve the Air Force in various capacities and commands, until he retired as a lieutenant general in 1970. In 1998, he was promoted to full Air Force general (retired), and President Clinton personally pinned on his fourth star. He passed away at age 89 in 2002, appropriately enough for such a patriot, on July 4^th.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Air Power History, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Fall 2010) – The Tuskegee Airmen in Combat

Broadnax, Samuel L. – Blue Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation (2007)

Encyclopedia Britannica – Tuskegee Airmen

Francis, Charles E. – The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation (1997)

History Collection – African American Loyalists During the Revolutionary War: 10 Significant People, Events, and Things

Moye, Todd J. – Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of WWII (2010)

Nalty, Bernard C. – Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military (1989)

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Black Wings: African American Pioneer Aviators

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.