 The Tuskegee Airmen were the first group of African-American aviators to serve in the United States armed forces, and while they were discriminated against both within and outside of the army, they are known today as some of the best pilots of World War II. During World War II, black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws, and the American military was racially segregated, as was most of the federal government. When he was running for a third term as U.S. president in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to allow blacks to become military pilots. The War Department agreed to do that, but with the understanding that the black military pilots would be trained on a segregated basis and serve in their own segregated units. The Tuskegee program began officially in June 1941 with the 99th Pursuit Squadron at the Tuskegee Institute and Air Base. The unit consisted of 47 officers, 429 enlisted men, and was backed by an entire service arm. Tuskegee was chosen as the place for the first black military pilot training because Tuskegee Institute had already been training black civilian pilots. Tuskegee Institute lobbied for the contract to operate a primary flight school for black pilots. The region had more days of good flying weather than any other part of the country, and the area already had a segregated environment which was consistent with the segregated training. The name Tuskegee Airmen applied to not only the men who flew the fighter planes, but also the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel for the pilots. By April 1943, the 99th were finally considered ready for combat and were shipped out to Paris. By the end of February 1944, more graduates were ready for combat, and the all-black 332nd Fighter Group had been sent overseas with three fighter squadrons, the 100th, the 301st, the 302nd, and later to join the 99th. The 332nd Fighter Group was the only black fighter group and it was the only one to have four squadrons instead of three. That gave it more pilots and more airplanes than the average fighter group. The 99th Fighter Squadron flew 577 missions before joining the 332nd Fighter Group, and the 332nd Fighter Group flew 914 missions for a total of 1,491 combat missions flown by the Tuskegee Airmen. One of the major achievements that made the Tuskegee Airmen so popular was their good bomber protection rate, only losing a total of 27 bomber planes throughout their squadron's career. Compared to the average 47 from other squadrons. Flying escort for heavy bombers, the 332nd earned an impressive combat record. The allies called these airmen red tails, or red tail angels, because of the crimson red paint on the tail of their planes. Today, with close to 300 airmen still alive, the Tuskegee Airmen are remembered in countless pop culture television shows and movies. And while the history books may not show much detail to their significance during World War II, they will always be remembered as the men who change flying for colored people forever.