Moton Field was built by Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, in 1941 after the school contracted with the U.S. Army to provide primary flight training for the nation's first African American military pilots. By the end of World War II almost 1,000 African Americans had earned their wings, and their flight training began here. Thousands of military and civilian support personnel helped them reach their goal. The hangar built in 1941 was the first hangar at Moton Field, and a farther hangar with the control tower followed in 1943 as part of the rapid expansion of the flying program.