On Monday, the Air Force football program unveiled its latest ‘Air Power Legacy Series’ uniform which honors the Tuskegee Airmen this season.
The gray uniform utilizes black lettering meant to mimic the numbers used on the side of the P-51 Mustang aircraft. The uniform honors the 332nd Fighter Group (known as the Red Tails) by wearing a yellow stripe over the shoulders mirroring the wings of the P-51 Mustang and a “Spit Fire” patch on the left sleeve. The jersey’s nameplate says “Red Tails”, which was inspired by the handlettered names painted on the side of the aircraft.
Stenciled information of the game is featured on the right side of the pants, which is inspired by the information on the side of the plane. The left side of the pants features 20 silhouettes of the Commander-In-Chief Trophy, representing the championships Air Force has over Army and Navy.
The helmet is modeled after the tails of the P-51 Mustang with a red and metal gray spit. Each helmet will have one of the four squadron patches (from the 99th, 100th, 301st or 302nd) that make up the 332nd Fighter Group.
To complete the uniform, Air Force will wear gloves with the “Spit Fire” patch on each hand and Nike Vapor cleats with red chrome bottoms and yellow back loop.
Air Force will debut the APLS uniform on Oct. 3 at Falcon Stadium against rival Navy.
The Tuskegee Airmen uniform is the fifth edition of the APLS uniform. Started in 2016, Air Force first paid respect to the World War II Flying Tigers of the U.S. Army Air Corps. The following year they honored the F-35 aircraft and in 2018 the AC-130. Last season, they modeled their uniform after the C-17 aircraft.
History of the Tuskegee Airmen (via Air Force Athletics press release):
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African-American pilots from the U.S. Army Air Corps commissioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in September 1940. The pilots began their training at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. More than 900 pilots graduated from the program and more than 350 served in active duty as fighter pilots. The first African-American officer to solo an Army Air Corps aircraft was Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who became the commander of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first all-African American air unit. The Air Force Academy airfield was renamed in his honor in November 2019 and is now the Davis Airfield.
In early 1944, the 99th was joined by the 100th, 301st and 302nd to form the 332nd Fighter Group. They were the only African-American fighter group in the Army Air Corps and the only group to have four squadrons instead of three. Assigned the color red for identification purposes, the 332nd became known as the Red Tails and Red Tail Angels for the success escorting bombers into enemy territory.
The 332nd was credited with shooting down 12 German planes in two days in January 1944, flying more than 15,000 sorties and shooting down 112 enemy planes total. The unit earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Distinguished Unit Citations. The success of the Tuskegee Airmen helped lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement and influenced President Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces in 1948.