Tuskegee Airmen reading a map
Tuskegee Airmen reading a map (© Bettmann/Getty Images)
Honoring some real heroes of World War II
In this photograph, likely taken in 1941, we see a group of cadets examining a map with their training instructor. They are (from left to right) Lieutenant John Daniels of Chicago, Cadet Clayborne Lockett of Los Angeles, Cadet Lawrence O'Clark of Chicago, Cadet William Melton of Los Angeles, and civilian instructor Milton Crenshaw of Little Rock. The pilots would later be known as the 'Tuskegee Airmen,' the first Black military aviators in the US Army Air Corps, a precursor of the US Air Force. During World War II, more than 1,000 Tuskegee pilots flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa, quickly becoming revered for their bravery and excellence.
© Bettmann/Getty Images