In 1941, the American military did not want the Tuskegee Airmen to fly, but by May 8, 1945, at the end of World War II in Europe, only the Nazis felt that way. Their heroics led to President Truman's 1948 order ending racial segregation in the Armed Forces. A P-51 Mustang World War II fighter replica, built at 60% of the original size, was dedicated on 9/18/16 in the presence of Lt. Robert Martin, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 65 missions, was shot down, returned across enemy lines, and flew again. The replica was painted as his P-51 had been painted except for the swastikas a pilot earned for each Nazi fighter shot down; although the Tuskegee Airmen destroyed more than 409 enemy aircraft, he said he did not shoot down any. The airmen were credited with four kills, and the army air corps would never give any of them a fifth that would make them an ace. Through the work of Eleanor Roosevelt and A. Philip Randolph, the squadron came into existence in 1941, when blacks were generally given menial jobs in civilian and military life. The 992 Tuskegee pilots and their all-black support staff of several thousand won 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 744 Air Medals; 66 were killed in action, and 32 were POWs. They lost few, if any, of the bombers they escorted. They were cited in 1948 by President Truman as the reason he ended racial segregation in the armed forces, a change that led to the first Air Force black general, the acceptance of the black man as an authority figure, and eventually the election of Barack Obama as president. Their brave deeds changed the history of flight and the history of America for the better as they fought discrimination in order to fight for America and helped in the fight for democracy in war and peace.