Office of CG, AAF, for ASW, 13 Sep 46, ASW 291.2.]

_Impulse for Change_

The problems associated with efficient use of black airmen intensified
when the Air Force became an independent service in 1947. The number
of Negroes fluctuated during the transition from Army Air Forces to
Air Force, and as late as April 1948 the Army still retained a number
of specialized black units whose members had the right to transfer to
the Air Force. Estimates were that some 5,400 black airmen would
eventually enter the Air Force from this source. Air Force officials
believed that when these men were added to the 26,507 Negroes already
in the new service, including 118 rated and 127 nonrated male officers
and 4 female officers, the total would exceed the 10 percent quota
suggested by the Gillem Board. Accordingly, soon after it became an
independent service, the Air Force set the number of black enlistments
at 300 per month until the necessary adjustments to the transfer
program could be made.[11-35]

[Footnote 11-35: Memo, unsigned, for Asst SecAF
Zuckert, 22 Apr 48, SecAF files. The figures cited
in this memorandum were slightly at variance with
the official strength figures as compiled later in
the _Unites States Air Force Statistical Digest I_
(1948). The _Digest_ put the Air Force's strength
(excluding Army personnel still under Air Force
control) on 31 March 1948 at 345,827, including
25,404 Negroes (8.9 percent of the total). The 10
percent plus estimate mentioned in the memorandum,
however, was right on the mark when statistics for
enlisted strength alone are considered.]

In addition to the chronic problems associated with black enlistments
and quotas, four very specific problems demonstrated clearly to Air
Force officials the urgent need for a change in race policy. The first
of these was the distribution of black airmen which threatened the
operational efficiency of the Tactical Air Command. A second, related
to the first, revolved around the personnel shortages in black
tactical units that necessitated an immediate reorganization of those
units, a reorganization both controversial and managerially
inefficient. The third and fourth problems were related; the demands
of black leaders for a broa