TUSKEGEE AIRMAN JACKET.

The article focuses on the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American aviators in the United States Armed Forces who served during World War II in the US Army Air Forces' 332nd Fighter Group and 477th Bombardment Group. Despite facing racial discrimination under Jim Crow laws, the 922 pilots flew 1,578 combat and 179 bomber escort missions across multiple European theaters, earning numerous awards including three Distinguished Unit Citations and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses. The article highlights Woodrow W. Crockett, an officer from Arkansas in the 100th Fighter Squadron, who flew 149 combat missions in WWII and 45 in the Korean War, receiving multiple medals and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. Crockett's WWII leather flight jacket is preserved at the National Museum of African American History & Culture.