Lemuel Rodney Custis (1915-2005)

On July 19, 1941, the Army Air Corps began a program in Alabama to train African-Americans as pilots for the first time. Civil rights organizations and predominately black newspapers exerted pressure which resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

The primary flight training for these servicemen took place at the Division of Aeronautics of Tuskegee Institute. Air Corps officials built a separate facility at Tuskegee Army Air Field to train the African-American pilots. The Tuskegee Airmen not only battled enemies during wartime, but also fought against racism and segregation, proving that they were highly skilled Airmen. Even though the Tuskegee Airmen proved their worth as military pilots, they were still forced to operate in segregated units and did not fight alongside their white countrymen.

One honor the Tuskegee Airmen hold is that they never lost a bomber under their escort during World War II. The only pursuit squadron to earn this honor, it also earned the men the nickname “Red Tail Angels.” The airmen earned this title because of the distinctive red paint on both the propeller and tail of their planes.

Of the original thirteen, only five graduated: Benjamin O. Davis, George Roberts, Lemuel Custis, Charles De Bow, and Mac Ross. On March 7, 1942, they received their wings before a statue of Booker T. Washington, recalled Lou Purnell, who was three classes behind them. "There's no way to describe their elation, standing on the platform with their uniforms rippling in the wind. They had done the impossible."

Lemuel Rodney Custis, was the last surviving member of that first class. Having received a BS Degree from Howard University in 1938, he became Hartford's first African-American police officer in 1939. Custis flew 92 combat missions in the P-40 while assigned to the 99th Fighter Squadron, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism. He later returned to Tuskegee as an advanced flight instructor and was released from active military service from the U.S. Army Air Force in 1946 as a Captain.

Custis later said, "I came out of college right in the middle of the Depression--the Great One, I'm talking about. There weren't any jobs, particularly for young blacks who had some education. I didn't want to hang around the street corners and do nothing - my mother and father had raised me that you have to go out and work for anything you got. So I became a cop, walking a beat. When the Air Corps opened up, I jumped at the chance and never regretted it. Honestly, I don't know why I was selected in the first group. There were a couple of us who didn't have the benefit of going to schools that had CPT, so I was a real greenie who had to start from scratch. I think Davis and I were the only ones. We had to climb a little higher mountain than the others did."