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Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Alabama, pays homage to the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and 447th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Force.
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 4:30pm. Admission is free (as of August 2023). You can combine your visit with a stop at nearby Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, where cadets lived during their training.
Moton Field
The Tuskegee Airmen trained at Moton Field, where the government wanted to try an “experiment” to see if African-Americans “had the mental and physical capabilities to lead, fly military aircraft, and the courage to fight in war”. The military was segregated until President Harry S. Truman put an end to the practice in 1948.
Entrance
From the parking lot, if you take the path to the left, you can walk through the original gates to the air field. A skeleton structure indicates where the guard house used to sit.
Continuing along the path, there are two more skeleton structures. They stand where the Cadet House and Army Supply Building once were.
Hangar No. 1
The first building you can enter is Hangar No. 1. It was the only hangar in existence when the program started in 1941. The building housed aircraft maintenance and management offices. Flight debriefing and record keeping also took place there.
Inside Hangar No. 1, you can learn about daily operations of the base as well as get a look at some planes.
Pilots weren’t the only Tuskegee Airmen. If you were a technician, mechanic, cook, navigator, bombardier, control tower operator, dispatcher, medic, or parachute rigger, you were part of the Tuskegee Airmen. There were also Native American, Hispanic, and mixed race airmen, while white military personnel oversaw operations at the base. Women were also involved in various capacities, including mechanics, gate guards, parachute riggers, secretaries, and more.
Before exiting you can visit the Cadet Waiting Room and the War Room (Intelligence Room).
Hangar No. 2
Next is Hangar No. 2, which was originally built in 1944 to accommodate the expansion of the program. It held classrooms, medical offices, and a parachute drying and packing space. The hangar burned down in 1989 but was reconstructed by the National Park Service.
Inside Hangar No. 2 is a museum dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen and their service to the country. You can hear individual stories, learn about famous airmen, see uniforms and awards, and view statistics about their missions.
992 pilots were trained as Tuskegee Airmen between 1941 and 1946. 355 were deployed to active combat and flew 1,578 total missions. 66 were killed in action while 32 were taken prisoners of war. 13 were listed as missing in action.
The airmen destroyed 112 aircraft in the air and 150 on the ground, 950 rail cars and motor vehicles, and put German torpedo boat out of action. On 179 bomber escort missions, the Tuskegee Airmen lost a total of 27 bombers on only seven missions.
The control tower was located in Hangar No. 2 and was saved from the fire. You can climb up the original tower and get a look at the air field.
Minor Buildings
There are a few minor buildings behind the hangars. There’s the Oil Storage Shed, the Bath and Locker House, a skeleton of the Engineer’s Office, and the Warehouse/Vehicle Storage Building. The Bath and Locker House was used by administrative and support personnel and may have been the only integrated building in the South at the time it was in use.
Finally, on the path back up to the parking lot, there’s the Skyway Club. It was built in 1945 and served as a recreation and dining facility. Supposedly, it’s used as a restaurant for visitors, but it was closed when we visited.
