Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 â July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen.
He was the first black brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, he was advanced to four-star general by President Bill Clinton. During World War II, Davis was commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group, which escorted bombers on air combat missions over Europe. Davis flew sixty missions in P-39, Curtiss P-40, P-47 and P-51 Mustang fighters and was one of the first African-American pilots to see combat. Davis followed in his father’s footsteps in breaking racial barriers, as Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was the first black general in the United States Army.
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