º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù’s Leadership Role In Developing The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen and Aviation Opportunities For African Americans

• The few African-Americans who learned to fly in the early 1900s were self-taught or trained overseas. Once the U.S. government passed the Civilian Pilot Training Act in 1939, º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù – together with various civil rights groups and the Black press – began the effort to change federal government practices and policies that excluded African-Americans from pilot training programs and to begin the development of Black fighter pilots.
• The first Civilian Pilot Training Program students completed their instruction in May 1940 at the University's Moton Field. The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù program was then expanded and became the center for African-American aviation during World War II.
• The military selected º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù because of its already demonstrated success and commitment to aviation training. º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù had the facilities including an airport, engineering and technical instructors, as well as a climate for year-round flying.
• Thirteen cadets entered the first flight program in July 1941.
• Five graduated in March 1942 and were designated as military pilots.
• Between 1941 and 1946, nearly 1,000 African-American aviators completed the flight course at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù.
• The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen, members of the 332nd Fighter Group, are credited with having the best loss records on combat missions as air escorts
• The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen destroyed 260 enemy aircraft.
• The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen accumulated a total of 850 medals for their service and valor.
• The nation's first African-American four-star general, Daniel "Chappie" James, was not only a º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airman but a 1942 graduate of º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. He completed the U.S. Army Air Corps program and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1943. This year's convocation will be held in the General Daniel "Chappie" James Center for Aerospace Science and Health Education, a facility named in his honor.
• º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù donated the land to build the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen National Historic Site Museum at Moton Field. This occurred after the U.S. Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1998 approved Public Law 105-355, which commemorated the heroic efforts of the nation's first African-American fighter pilots during World War II and authorized an initial sum of $29.1 million to the National Park Service for the development of the museum in cooperation with º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù and the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Airmen.
• Moton Field, named for Robert Russa Moton – second president of º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù Institute, was built between 1940 and 1942 with funding from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.
• º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù continues its leadership legacy in aeronautics by being the first and only historically black college or university to offer a degree in aerospace science engineering. The degree has been offered since 1983 and has produced the largest number of Black aerospace science engineers of any other institution in America.