​On June 8, 1946, the last class of aviation cadets graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field. At the time they completed their requirements 2,483 persons had entered the Tuskegee pilot training program, of which, 994 completed the rigors and earned their pilot wings. Altogether, the participants in the Tuskegee military experiment (later called Tuskegee Airmen) numbered between 15,000 – 19,000 including pilots, mechanics, cooks, doctors, nurses, parachute riggers, gate guards, flight instructors, firemen, radio operators, etc. Their unit formations consisted of the 99th, 100th, 301st, and, 302nd Fighter Squadrons, the combined 332nd Fighter Group, and 477th Bombardment Group, along with their service units.

​TUSKEGEE AIRMEN NURSES

1st Lieutenant Della Hayden Raney (Jackson)

​Meet 1st Lieutenant Della Hayden Raney (Jackson), the Chief Nurse at the Tuskegee Army Air Field station hospital who led the first five “Negro” nurses assigned to the TAAF hospital.  Nurse Raney transferred to Tuskegee in 1942 and worked there for about 2 years.  She and the 29 “Negro” nurses were the first and only nurses on staff at the medical hospital department at TAAF, the advanced training site for the Tuskegee Airmen.

Here’s her fascinating story…

She attended Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina which is credited as the first program for “Negro” nursing students in the U.S.  She graduated in 1937.  When the U.S. entered WWII, Nurse Raney was anxious to serve her country and applied for a position in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC).  Her application was initially denied but she persisted in her efforts to become an Army nurse.  At that time, a nurse needed the endorsement of the American Red Cross to be considered for military service.  She wrote a letter to the organization’s director telling her of her desire to “serve my country and practice my profession.”
Her persistence paid off.  Nurse Raney got her membership card, certificate and pin and became the first “Negro” nurse accepted in the US Army Nurse Corps at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Raney made history yet again when she was transferred to TAAF in Tuskegee in 1942 as Chief Nurse with the new rank of 1st Lieutenant.  She was promoted to Major in 1946.

As a ranking officer, all of the pilot trainees vying to become Tuskegee Airmen had to salute Nurse Raney and the other “Negro” nurse officers at TAAF.

By the way, the nurses she supervised at the hospital affectionately called her “Maw” Raney.  Major Raney retired in 1978 after earning the highest rank of any African-American nurse who served in WWII.

Della Raney and the nurses at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in their formal uniforms. They helped lay the foundation for the future integration of African-American nurses at military station hospitals throughout the United States.

---

Nurses from the base hospital at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama, receive familiarization training on one of the training aircraft. This training included an orientation ride in the BT-13 aircraft.

​Tuskegee Support staff training in control tower with microphone and biscuit gun, 1942.