Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., led the Tuskegee Airmen.As a youngster, Davis wanted to fly, and to this end, he sought and earned an appointment in 1932 to the United States Military Academy. As a cadet ...

In 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first Black person to achieve the rank of brigadier general in the US Army. His son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., later commanded the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps to become one of the most storied military commanders of his generation. Explore 80 years ago, nation’s military named its first Black ...

Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who broke color barriers and shattered racial myths as the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, the pioneering black fighter pilots of World War II, died on Thursday ...

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. stands next to a P-51C Mustang “By Request” airplane, which he flew during World War II as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group when unit was based in ...

1942: Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was promoted to the rank of brigadier general by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the eve of the presidential election, making him the nation’s first Black general ...

In 1954, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., a West Point graduate, became only the second Black general in the U.S. military and the first in the Air Force. The senior Davis died in 1970 at age 93.

Portrait of United States Air Force Lieutenant General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (1912- 2002), a commmander of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during the Second World War, circa 1970.