SlideshowtheGrio Exclusive

Slideshow: The Tuskegee Airmen's legacy still soars

By theGrio

9:00 PM on 01/22/2012

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Related News: 'Red Tails' holds it own at the weekend box office; Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr: Tuskegee airman buried at Arlington; George Lucas tests box office racism with new film

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Edward C. Gleed, Tuskegee pilot, standing, three-quarter length portrait (Library of Congress)

To celebrate the release of the hit film Red Tails, theGrio wants to celebrate the history of America's first black military airmen who fought and died in WWII.

The Tuskegee Airmen used integrity, bravery, and talent to combat intense discrimination and break racial barriers.

The first aviation cadet class began in July 1941 at the Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Tuskegee, Alabama. These 13 pilots completed their training in March 1942. For the next five years, more than 996 pilots graduated from TAAF

More than 400 of those black pilots trained served overseas in WWII -- either in the 99th Pursuit Squadron (later the 99th Fighter Squadron) or the 332nd Fighter Group in the 15th Air Force.

Although many Tuskegee Airmen received numerous military merits and honors from the Army Air Corps, they were denied access to several military institutions. When black officers tried to enter the Freeman Field Officer's Club, 103 officers were ordered to stay out. These men refused and were later charged with insubordination. However, on August 12, 1995, 15 out of 103 cases were dismissed from the Freeman Field case.

WATCH theGRIO's TODD JOHNSON INTERVIEW THE STARS OF 'RED TAILS' HERE:

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Photograph of several Tuskegee airmen at Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Photograph of several Tuskegee airmen attending a briefing in Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Photograph of Tuskegee airmen attending a briefing in Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen exiting the parachute room, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen playing cards in the officers' club in the evening.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Edward C. Gleed and two unidentified Tuskegee airmen, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen Marcellus G. Smith and Roscoe C. Brown, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen Woodrow W. Crockett and Edward C. Gleed, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen playing cards in the officers' club in the evening.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Tuskegee airmen Roscoe C. Brown, Marcellus G. Smith, and Benjamin O. Davis, Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Portrait of Tuskegee airman Edward M. Thomas, standing.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Edward C. Gleed, Tuskegee pilot, standing.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Members of the 332nd Fighter Group in Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
"Escape kits" (cyanide) being distributed to fighter pilots at air base in southern Italy, 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Col. Benjamin O. Davis, full-length portrait, and Edward C. Gleed, wearing flight gear, standing next to airplane, and looking upward, at air base at Rametti, Italy.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Toni Frissell with Major George S. "Spanky" Roberts at Ramitelli, Italy, March, 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Members of the 332nd Fighter Group attending a briefing in Ramitelli, Italy, March, 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Members of the 332nd Fighter Group in a briefing room, Ramitelli, Italy, March, 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Pilot from the 332nd Fighter Group signing Form One Book.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Sgt. William P. Bostic, 301st F.S. in control tower, March 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Ground crew sweats in a mission.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)
Crew chief Marcellus G. Smith, Louisville, KY, 100th F.S., Ramitelli, Italy, March, 1945.

(Toni Frissell, Library of Congress)