The United States Air Force Academy this week unveiled new football uniforms honoring the Tuskegee Airmen that its team will wear on the field this fall.
The uniforms are part of the Air Power Legacy Series the academy began in 2016 that recognizes important parts of Air Force history.
The Tuskegee Airmen were airborne units made up of black service members who fought during World War II, a time during which the American military was still segregated. The squads were educated and trained near Tuskegee, Alabama.
The new helmets are pictured on a plane that mentions Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. in script writing on the tail. Davis was the first black officer to solo an Army aircraft and later ascended to command the 99th Pursuit Squadron, America’s first all-black air unit.
According to the Air Force, the units that made up the Tuskegee Airmen were assigned the color red as an identifier, a decision that later produced the nickname “Red Tails” for the famous units.
One unit of Tuskegee Airmen, the 332nd Fighter Group, is credited with “flying more than 15,000 sorties and shooting down 112 enemy planes total” during WWII, the Air Force said in a release.
“The unit earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Distinguished Unit Citations,” the Air Force added.
President Harry Truman desegregated the Armed Forces in 1948, and the success of the Tuskegee Airmen is often cited as one of the factors that led to that decision.
The Air Force provided more information on the uniforms, saying, “The chrome base gray helmet features the P-51 aircraft flown by the Tuskegee Airmen with signature red tails and nose that helped identify the squadron. The helmet features the four squadron patches for the 99th, 100th, 301st and 302nd. The pants feature an authentic stenciled information graphic on the side. The custom nameplate on the jersey says Red Tails, inspired by hand-lettered names painted on the side of the P-51 aircraft.”
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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