January 16, 1941: The War Department announced plans to create a “Negro pursuit squadron” whose pilots would be trained at Tuskegee, Alabama.

 

March 22, 1941: The 99™ Pursuit Squadron was activated at Chanute Field, Illinois, as the first black pursuit squadron in the Army Air Corps.

 

March 29, 1941: Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, visited Tuskegee and was taken up in an airplane with “Chief” Charles Alfred Anderson, Tuskegee Institute’s chief instructor pilot, who was black.

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July 19, 1941: The first class of black aviation cadets, class 42-C, entered preflight training at Tuskegee Institute. There were thirteen cadets in the class.

 

August 6, 1941: The Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Tuskegee was activated at Tuskegee Army Air Field.

 

August 21, 1941: The first class of black aviation cadets in the U.S. military entered the first phase of military flight training (primary) at Tuskegee Institute’s Kennedy Field, since Moton Field was not yet completed.

 

November 8, 1941: The first class of black aviation cadets in the U.S. military entered the second phase of military flight training (basic) at Tuskegee Army Air Field. Of the original 13 who entered the primary training, only six were left.