rvative leadership. He believed that blacks needed to prove they were loyal to the United States by working hard and not complaining before they should be given political rights. Many whites who feared the advancement of blacks supported the Institute because they felt that it helped the blacks accept their lower place in the world. (www.spartucus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtuskegee.htm, pp.1-2) This was the perfect place for the Air Force experiment.
             The legend of the Tuskegee Airmen had its real life beginning on April 19, 1941. Eleanor Roosevelt was visiting Tuskegee and met the leader of the program, Charles "Chief" Anderson. She asked if Negroes could really fly and he responded by saying "Certainly we can; as a matter of fact, would you like to take a ride?" She accepted over all the objections of her secret service agents. Then Mrs. Roosevelt and "Chief" went for a half an hour ride in his Piper J-3 Cub. Upon touchdown, she replied "I guess Negroes really can fly." Then they took an historic photo together. Not long after this historic event, the War Department granted the founders $1,663,057 to begin the construction of the airfield (Black Knights, p.31). Then, on July 19, 1941, the Air force started to train black Americans as pilots at the Tuskegee Institute.
             The first training of the cadets was done at the Division of Aeronautics at the Institute. After a cadet completed his first training to become a pilot there, he was then sent to the Tuskegee Airfield for actual flight training in a combat aircraft. These first cadets to be trained would become the 99th Pursuit Squadron. This squadron was designed to consist of 33 to 35 pilots and 278 ground crew members (Black Knights, p. 27). The first men from the first class, which graduated on March 7, 1942, were Benjamin O. Davis Jr., George Roberts, Lemuel Curtis, Charles Debow and Mac Ross. As each class graduated, more m...