a real man...

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., an aviation pioneer, is one of the most famous Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force. After his retirement as a Lieutenant General he was later advanced to four-star general in 1998 by President Bill Clinton.

Davis's military career spanned five decades and three wars. He graduated from West Point, the only Black cadet in his class. He was given the silent treatment by his classmates and had no roommate.

He was the first African-American officer in the Army Air Forces, and was a member of the first African-American pilot-training class at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Alabama. The class graduated in 1942. Because of the war and his ability, promotions came quickly and later that year, Davis became commander of the 99th Fighter squadron, the oldest and most famous unit of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Equipped with P-40 fighters and flying from Tunisia, the 99th saw combat for the first time in June 1943 against the German-held island of Pantelleria as part of Operation Corkscrew. Davis was named commander of the unit the following month.

He later became commander of the 332nd Fighter Group, the "Red Tails," flying from Ramitelli, Italy. The 332nd flew more than 15,000 sorties, shot down 112 enemy planes, destroyed or damaged 273 on the ground at a cost of 66 of their own planes. Over all its escort missions, only about 25 of the bombers that were escorted by the 332nd were lost.

Davis led 67 missions in P-47s and P-51s. He received the Silver Star for a strafing run into Austria and the Distinguished Flying Cross for a bomber-escort mission to Munich.

After returning to the U.S. Davis took command of the Black 477th Bomb Group following the Freeman Field "mutiny" incident. When the unit arrived at Freeman Field, Indiana, one of several bases under the aegis of the 477th, the 400 officers that comprised it were listed as "trainees" while their white counterparts were listed as "instructors" to maintain the base's segregated protocols. When Black officers pressed the issue, a total of 61 were arrested. More than 100 refused to sign a statement saying they had read and agreed with a regulation about segregation and gave the base commander the right to confine any violators of the order. This was despite the fact that segregation of public facilities on military bases was forbidden by a U.S. Army regulation.

The incident gained national attention and Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall ordered the release of 101 African American officers. The base commander was relieved of his duties and replaced at Freeman Field by Col. Benjamin Davis. That quest for equal rights was an important milestone in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement.

Later, while at the Pentagon, Davis gained approval to create the Air Force Thunderbirds flight demonstration team. In 1953, he was sent to Korea to command a fighter wing flying F-86 Sabres. Davis retired from the Air Force in 1970. He was advanced to four-star general Dec. 9, 1998, by President Clinton. Davis died July 4, 2002 at age 98.

reprinted from national museum of ww11 aviation facebook 3/03/2022