When Franklin Delano Roosevelt overruled his top generals in 1940 and established a unit for African-American airmen, it had more to do with his wife, Eleanor, than the US president.

The US first lady was the driving force behind the plan, says Donald Miller, a professor of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and author of the book on which the TV series Masters of the Air is based. She was supported by black pressure groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the black press...

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