The first five African American pilots graduate from training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. By the end of the war, the Tuskegee Airmen would include 950 pilots and open the door to the armed forces for other African Americans.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.