12. Resistance From the Army Air Forces’ Head Honcho
Even as the Tuskegee training pipeline began pumping out black aviators, most were left to cool their heels, with no assignments, as plans to deploy them were slow-walked or resisted by higher-ups. The US Army Air Forces’ commanding general, Henry “Hap” Arnold, was among those who were lukewarm to place black officers in operational slots. As he put it: “Negro pilots cannot be used in our present Air Corps units since this would result in Negro officers serving over white enlisted men creating an impossible social situation“.
It took more public pressure from civil rights groups and the black press, plus the personal intercession of FDR, before the military finally relented, and declared the 99th combat-ready in April of 1943. It was shipped to North Africa, where it flew P-40 Warhawks as operational fighters. Its first combat assignment was to participate in Operation Corkscrew, the air assault on the Italian island of Pantelleria, to clear the way for the upcoming Allied invasion of Sicily.
