Recruits at Chanute Field, Illinois - #1

Recruits at Chanute Field, Illinois - #2

99th Pursuit Squadron Graduating Class

99th Pursuit Squadron Mechanic Students

99th Pursuit Squadron Dining Facility

Radio Communications Field Exercise

Radial Engine Maintenance Training

99th Pursuit Squadron Instructors

Building T-662 #1

Building T-662 #2

Shooting Skeet

Volunteers

Baseball

Thompkins Dining Hall

Thompkins Dining Hall

"Pay Day!"

Trainer Aircraft

Kennedy Field, 1943

Ground School

Cadet Locker

Tuskegee Institute Campus-Retreat

Ground School

Stearman PT-17s

Barracks Inspection

Cadets During Mess

Link Trainer

Aviation Cadets #1

Aviation Cadets #2

Basic and Advanced Flying School

Exercise Training

First Class of Black Pilots Graduates From the Advanced Flying School

Aviation Cadets With Flight Instructor

These recruits enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., and are being trained as airplane mechanics and specialists at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois, for service with the 99th Pursuit Squadron, now an all-Black unit. Shown in front of a Douglas B-18 medium bomber are left to right: Gorham Black, Wendell Hookaday, Alfred Farrar, Paul Woodson, Albert Hendricks, Albert Carey, Henry Reid, John Spann, Lloyd Tyner, Earl Smith, Leon Smith, Paul Sydnor, Clarence Clarke, and Clarence Dishman. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Recruits of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, new all-Black Air Corps unit. Left to right: James Reed, Glen Head, Gerald Brown, William McBride, William Dowell, Sidney Johnson, Mathew Dempsey, Count Simmons, Lionel Grimes, Edgar Allen Pope, Garfield Tucker, Morrison Groves, and Eugene Coleman. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Graduating class of 99th Pursuit Squadron aircraft mechanics in front of a hangar at Chanute Field, Illinois. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Four aircraft mechanic students, recruited for the 99th Pursuit Squadron, inspect the main landing gear on a medium bomber during a class exercise at Chanute Field, Illinois, in 1941. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

99th Pursuit Squadron technical training students pause for a meal in their squadron dining facility at Chanute Field, Illinois, in 1941. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

A field exercise provided valuable instruction in radio communications for these 99th Pursuit Squadron students from Chanute Field, Illinois. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

A class of 99th Pursuit Squadron students receive hands-on technical training in radial engine maintenance. The Aircraft Engine Mechanics classroom at Chanute Field, Illinois, contained a number of aircraft engines mounted for easy student and instructor access. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Five 99th Pursuit Squadron instructors from the Chanute Field staff that provided technical training in armament, engineering, communications, and aircraft maintenance. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Building T-662 at Chanute Field, Illinois, taken June 30, 1943. At that time, the Black students from the 99th Pursuit Squadron were kept segregated from other students receiving training, and this building served as their Recreation Center. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Building T-662 at Chanute Field, Illinois, taken June 30, 1943. At that time, the Black students from the 99th Pursuit Squadron were kept segregated from other students receiving training, and this building served as their Recreation Center. US Air Force photo. Courtesy of Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum Foundation.

Shooting skeet was one of the many activities available to the aviation cadets at the Basic and Advanced Flying Training School, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. From the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, AL, collection.

Community Girls at TAAF sewing the Enlisted Rank Insignia on uniforms.

Baseball game at TAAF, 1942.

Thompkins Dining Hall Recreation Room, Tuskegee Institute. Primary cadets writing letters.

Thompkins Dining Hall Recreation Room. Socializing with the Tuskegee Institute coeds.

Cadets in pay line at Tuskegee Institute, 1942.

Trainer Aircraft for the Tuskegee Airmen, Flightline, TAAF. From top to bottom, PT-17-Primary Trainer, BT-13- Basic Trainer, AT-6-Advanced Trainer and P-40-Tactical Fighter.

Kennedy Field, Primary Cadets and J-3 Cub Aircraft.

Ground School at TAAF, Armament Class

A Typical Cadet Locker at TAAF.

Primary Flight Cadets participating in Military Retreat.

Ground School at TAAF, Armament Class,

L-R front row, Cadets Graham Smith, James Wiley, Paul Mitchell, Gordon Southall; second row, Louis Purnell, Faythe McGinnis, and Percy Sutton.

Stearman PT-17s at Moton Field, Tuskegee, Alabama. From Moton Field February 1944 History.

Barracks inspection at Tuskegee. From the HQ AETC/HO, Randolph AFM, Texas, photo collection, circa early 1940s.

Cadets during mess at Tuskegee Army Air Field, June 1942. From the Air University/HO, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, photo collection.

As part of his comprehensive flying training course, an aviation cadet practices instrument flying in a Link Trainer at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, June 1942. From the Air University/HO, Maxwell AFB, Alabama , photo collection.

Tuskegee Airmen aviation cadets discuss the day's mission with their instructor during basic flying training at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, June 1942. From the Air University/HO, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, photo collection.

In the center is Captain Roy F. Morse, Air Corps, teaching aviation cadets how to send and receive code, at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, in January 1942. On the left, from front to rear: James B. Knighten, Lee Rayford, and C.H. Flowers. On the right, from front to rear: George Levi Knox, Sherman W. Whilte, and Mac Ross. From the Air University/HO, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, photo collection.

Basic and Advanced Flying School for Black Air Corps Cadets in Tuskegee. Left to right: Lemuel R. Custis, Mac Ross, Charles Debow, Frederick W. Moore, C.H. Flowers, Jr., George Levi Knof, Lt. Donald B. McPherson, Air Corps Director of Basic Training, explaining a cross county flight on map in classroom as cadets loon on Lee Rayford, Sherman W. White, Jr., George S. "Spanky" Roberts, James B. Knighten. US Air Force Photo. From the 81TRW/HO, Keesler AFB, Mississippi, photo collection.

Cadets doing their exercises in physical training at Tuskegee Army Air Field, July 29, 1943. US Air Force photo. From the 81TRW/HO, Keesler AFB, Mississippi, photo collection.

On March 7, 1942, the first class of Black pilots in the history of the United States Army Air Corps graduated from the Advanced Flying School in Tuskegee. "Wings" and commissions as second lieutenants in the Air Corps were presented by Maj. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, commander of the Southeast Air Corps Training Center. Among the members of the class shown here listening to one of their instructors, Lieutenant R. M. Long, left, are G.S. Roberts, Captain B.O. Davis, C.H. DeBow, Mac Ross, and L.R. Custis. All were assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the only Black squadron in the Air Corps. Several other classes of aviation cadets followed this first class. US Air Force photo. From the HQ AETC/HO, Randolph AFB, TX, photo collection.

Aviation cadets listen to their instructor as he discusses the day's flying assignments and uses the tail of an aircraft to present maps and training materials. From the HQ AETC/HO, Randolph AFB, Texas, photo collection, circa early 1940s.