The Tuskegee Airmen, black American pilots in the Second World War who fought racism at home and the Nazis in the skies over Europe, were finally honoured in Washington yesterday with the award of the Congressional Gold Medal.

About 300 of the surviving pilots and ground crew were at the ceremony on Capitol Hill, attended by President Bush and Colin Powell, his former Secretary of State — the first black American to become the US military’s top general. Mr Bush told them that “victory at war was translated to a victory here in the United States”, adding that they were “leaders who pierced the unquestioned prejudices of a different society”.

Their achievement in overcoming such prejudices to earn some of the most distinguished air combat records of the war was a primary reason behind the 1948 decision to desegregate the US Armed Forces.

Before the 332nd Fighter Group of the Army Air Corps was formed in 1941, black Americans were not allowed to fly military aircraft because they were deemed to lack intelligence, patriotism and valour.

At Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, almost 1,000 young black pilots were trained under conditions of strict segregation from their white counterparts. Some generals are said to have expected — even hoped — that the programme would fail. Instead, the men excelled and more than 450 Tuskegee airmen flew combat missions over Germany, France, Italy and Northern Africa escorting Allied bombers to their targets.

Sixty-six of them were killed and others were captured. But almost all the bombers they protected got through. The fighters also shot down more than a hundred enemy aircraft.

They were sometimes known as the “angels with red tails” because of the distinctive markings on the back and propellers of their P51 Mustang fighters.

Walter McCreary, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, said that they used to laugh that the white bomber crews did not always know that the angels watching over them had black faces. After being shot and captured by the Germans, Lieutenant McCreary said that a solidarity developed among the prisoners of war that transcended race. It was only when he went home that he felt the sting of prejudice once more.

Mr Bush said yesterday: “I offer a gesture to help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities. And so I salute you for the service to the United States of America.”

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