12. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. in Charge of America’s Black Flyers
Although assigned to an infantry regiment, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. did not give up on his dream to become a pilot. When a black flying unit was finally created in 1941, he joined the first class of African American pilot trainees at Tuskegee Army Air Field. When he graduated in March, 1942, he and his four classmates became the US military’s first black combat fighter pilots. O. Davis Jr. became the first African American pilot to solo in a US Army Air Corps. By July, 1942, he had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and was appointed to command the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Even as the Tuskegee training pipeline began to pump out black aviators, most graduates were left to cool their heels. The new black pilots were given no assignments, as plans to place them into command slots were slow walked or resisted by higher ups.
