IIB 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1259 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 1, 2006 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs 
AN ACT 
To award a congressional gold medal on behalf of the 
Tuskegee Airmen, collectively, in recognition of their 
unique military record, which inspired revolutionary re-
form in the Armed Forces. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 
overruled his top generals and ordered the creation 
of an all Black flight training program. President 
Roosevelt took this action one day after the NAACP 
filed suit on behalf of Howard University student 
Yancy Williams and others in Federal court to force 
the Department of War to accept Black pilot train-
ees. Yancy Williams had a civilian pilot’s license and 
had earned an engineering degree. Years later, 
Major Yancy Williams participated in an air surveil-
lance project created by President Dwight D. Eisen-
hower. 
(2) Due to the rigid system of racial segrega-
tion that prevailed in the United States during 
World War II, Black military pilots were trained at 
a separate airfield built near Tuskegee, Alabama. 
They became known as the ‘‘Tuskegee Airmen’’. 
(3) The Tuskegee Airmen inspired revolu-
tionary reform in the Armed Forces, paving the way 
for full racial integration in the Armed Forces. They 
overcame the enormous challenges of prejudice and 
discrimination, succeeding, despite obstacles that 
threatened failure.
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(4) From all accounts, the training of the 
Tuskegee Airmen was an experiment established to 
prove that so-called ‘‘coloreds’’ were incapable of op-
erating expensive and complex combat aircraft. 
Studies commissioned by the Army War College be-
tween 1924 and 1939 concluded that Blacks were 
unfit for leadership roles and incapable of aviation. 
Instead, the Tuskegee Airmen excelled. 
(5) Overall, some 992 Black pilots graduated 
from the pilot training program of the Tuskegee 
Army Air Field, with the last class finishing in June 
1946, 450 of whom served in combat. The first class 
of cadets began in July 1941 with 13 airmen, all of 
whom had college degrees, some with Ph.D. degrees, 
and all of whom had pilot’s licenses. One of the 
graduates was Captain Benjamin O. Davis Jr., a 
United States Military Academy graduate. Four 
aviation cadets were commissioned as second lieuten-
ants, and 5 received Army Air Corps silver pilot 
wings. 
(6) That the experiment achieved success rather 
than the expected failure is further evidenced by the 
eventual promotion of 3 of these pioneers through 
the commissioned officer ranks to flag rank, includ-
ing the late General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., United
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States Air Force, the late General Daniel ‘‘Chappie’’ 
James, United States Air Force, our Nation’s first 
Black 4-star general, and Major General Lucius 
Theus, United States Air Force (retired). 
(7) 450 Black fighter pilots under the command 
of then Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., fought in 
World War II aerial battles over North Africa, Sic-
ily, and Europe, flying, in succession, P–40, P–39, 
P–47, and P–51 aircraft. These gallant men flew 
15,553 sorties and 1,578 missions with the 12th 
Tactical Air Force and the 15th Strategic Air Force. 
(8) Colonel Davis later became the first Black 
flag officer of the United States Air Force, retired 
as a 3-star general, and was honored with a 4th star 
in retirement by President William J. Clinton. 
(9) German pilots, who both feared and re-
spected the Tuskegee Airmen, called them the 
‘‘Schwartze Vogelmenschen’’ (or ‘‘Black Birdmen’’). 
White American bomber crews reverently referred to 
them as the ‘‘Black Redtail Angels’’, because of the 
bright red painted on the tail assemblies of their 
fighter aircraft and because of their reputation for 
not losing bombers to enemy fighters as they pro-
vided close escort for bombing missions over stra-
tegic targets in Europe.
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(10) The 99th Fighter Squadron, after having 
distinguished itself over North Africa, Sicily, and 
Italy, joined 3 other Black squadrons, the 100th, the 
301st, and the 302nd, designated as the 332nd 
Fighter Group. They then comprised the largest 
fighter unit in the 15th Air Force. From Italian 
bases, they destroyed many enemy targets on the 
ground and at sea, including a German destroyer in 
strafing attacks, and they destroyed numerous 
enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground. 
(11) 66 of these pilots were killed in combat, 
while another 32 were either forced down or shot 
down and captured to become prisoners of war. 
These Black airmen came home with 150 Distin-
guished Flying Crosses, Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, 
and Legions of Merit, one Presidential Unit Cita-
tion, and the Red Star of Yugoslavia. 
(12) Other Black pilots, navigators, bombard-
iers and crewman who were trained for medium 
bombardment duty as the 477th Bomber Group 
(Medium) were joined by veterans of the 332nd 
Fighter Group to form the 477th Composite Group, 
flying the B–25 and P–47 aircraft. The demands of 
the members of the 477th Composite Group for par-
ity in treatment and for recognition as competent