Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 45

Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Coauthors: Senators Block, Correa, Evans, Lieu, Price, Roth, and Wright)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian Calderon, Frazier, Hall, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, Muratsuchi, Patterson, Weber, and Yamada)

May 20, 2013

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 45—Relative to the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 45, as introduced, Wolk. Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate the portion of Interstate 80 between Midway Road and the State Route 12 interchange in the County of Solano as the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway to honor the Tuskegee Airmen and the contributions they made during World War II. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Despite adversity and limited opportunities, African
Americans have played a significant role in United States military
history over the past 300 years. They were denied military
leadership roles and skilled training because many people believed
they lacked the qualifications for combat duty; and

WHEREAS, Before 1940, African Americans were barred from
flying for the United States military, but civil rights organizations
and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in what became
known as the “Tuskegee Experiment”; and

WHEREAS, On January 16, 1941, the War Department
announced the formation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first
African American flying unit in the United States Army Air Corps,
that trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, and
which became known as the “Lonely Eagles,” who fought in the
Mediterranean and European Theaters; and

WHEREAS, For every African American pilot there were 10
other African Americans, including navigators, bombardiers,
maintenance and support staff, instructors, and all the personnel
who keep airplanes in the air; and

WHEREAS, On March 7, 1942, the first class of African
American pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field, 42-C, completed
advanced pilot training. There were only five who completed the
training: Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. and 2nd Lieutenants Mac
Ross, Lemuel R. Custis, Charles H. DeBow, Jr., and George S.
Roberts. Captain Davis was assigned to the base, and the other
four became the first African American flying officers in the 99th
Pursuit Squadron; and

WHEREAS, The squadron was quickly dubbed the “Tuskegee
Airmen” and redesignated the 99th Fighter Squadron on May 15,
1942, and assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, for which they
later served as a bomber escort group that famously never lost a
single bomber to enemy fighters. No other escort unit claimed such
a record. The 332nd Fighter Group was later expanded to include
the 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons; and

WHEREAS, In June 1943, the Tuskegee Airmen entered into
combat over North Africa. The Tuskegee Airmen exemplified
courage, skill, and dedication in combat. They flew P-39-, P-40-,
P-47- and P-51-type single-seat fighter aircraft on more than 15,000
sorties, completing over 1,500 missions during the war; and

WHEREAS, On July 2, 1943, Lieutenant Charles B. Hall scored
the 99th Fighter Squadron’s first aerial victory. Never before had
an African American fighter pilot in the United States Armed
Forces shot down an enemy aircraft; and

WHEREAS, The new mission of the 332nd Fighter Group,
under the command of Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., was to
escort heavy bombers of the 15th Air Force on raids against
strategic enemy targets in southern and central Europe; and

WHEREAS, During July 1944, the Tuskegee Airmen downed
36 enemy aircraft, the most they ever scored in a single month,
and had begun flying the P-51 Mustang, which was faster and
more maneuverable than the previous types of fighter aircraft that
the group had flown from their base at Ramitelli Airfield in Italy;
and

WHEREAS, During World War II, 72 Tuskegee Airmen shot
down a total of 112 enemy aircraft, including the first German jet
fighters. The Tuskegee Airmen proved beyond a shadow of a doubt
that African Americans were capable of flying the best of the Allied
fighters to victory against the best of the enemy fighters. They
earned an indelible place in the history of air combat and in the
history of their country and of the world; and

WHEREAS, On May 11, 1945, three days after Germany
surrendered, the 332nd Fighter Group assembled for a ceremony
in which Major General Nathan F. Twining, commander of the
15th Air Force, presented various honors, including the
Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Bronze Star,
to various members of the 332nd Fighter Group; and

WHEREAS, The Tuskegee Airmen destroyed over 1,000 enemy
aircraft, received more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses,
and lost so few Allied bomber aircraft to enemy fighters when
flying escort missions that they earned the title “Red Tail Angels”
from the bomber crews who would specifically request the 332nd
Fighter Group as their escort; and

WHEREAS, On November 6, 1998, President Clinton approved
Public Law 105-355, which established the Tuskegee Airmen
National Historic Site at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, to
commemorate and interpret the heroic actions of the Tuskegee
Airmen during World War II. The site contains a museum and
interpretive programs at the historic complex at Moton Field as
well as a national center based on a public-private partnership;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates that
portion of Interstate 80 between Midway Road and the State Route
12 interchange in the County of Solano as the Tuskegee Airmen
Memorial Highway to honor the Tuskegee Airmen and the
contributions they made during World War II; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of erecting appropriate signs, consistent with
the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing
this special designation and, upon receiving donations from
nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the
author for appropriate distribution.