Assistant Secretary Zuckert
Zuckert also deleted several clauses in the supplementary letter to Air Force commanders that was to accompany and explain the order. These clauses had listed possible exemptions from the new order: one made it possible to retain a man in a black unit if he was one of the "key personnel" considered necessary for the successful functioning of a black unit, and the other allowed the local commander to keep those Negroes he deemed "best suited" for continued assignment to black units. The free reassignment of all eligible Negroes, particularly the well-qualified, was essential to the eventual dissolution of the all-black units. The Fahy Committee had objected to these provisions and considered it important for the Air Force to delete them,[16-21] but the matter was not raised during the committee hearings. There is evidence that the deletions were actually requested by the Secretary of Defense's Personnel Policy Board, whose influence in the integration of the Air Force is often overlooked.[16-22]
The screening of officers and men at Lockbourne got under way on 17 May. A board of officers under the presidency of Col. Davis, the commander of Lockbourne, and composed of representatives of Air Force headquarters, the Continental Air Command, and the Air Training Command, and important officers of Lockbourne, interviewed every officer in the wing. After considering each man's technical training, his performance, and his career field preference, the board recommended him for reassignment in a specific duty field. Although Edwards had promised that the screening boards would also judge each man's "adaptability" to integrated service, this requirement was quickly dropped by Davis and his fellow board members.[16-23] In fact, the whole idea of having screening boards was resented by some black officers. Zuckert later admitted that the screening may have been a mistake, but at the time it had been considered the best mechanism for ascertaining the proper assignment for the men.[16-24]
At the same time, a screening team in the Air Training Command gave a written examination to Lockbourne's more than 1,100 airmen and WAF's to determine if they were in appropriate military occupational specialties. A team of personnel counselors interviewed all airmen, weighed test scores, past performances, qualifications outside of assigned specialty, and choices of a career field, and then placed them in one of three categories. First, they could be earmarked for general reassignment in a specific military occupational specialty different from the one they were now in; second, they could be scheduled for additional or more advanced technical training; or third, they could be trained in their current specialties. The screeners referred marginal or extraordinary cases to Colonel Davis's board for decision.[16-25]
Concurrently with the Lockbourne processing, individual commanders established similar screening procedures wherever black airmen were then assigned. All these teams uncovered a substantial number of men and women considered eligible for further training or reassignment. (Table 4)
Table 4—Disposition of Black Personnel at Eight Air Force Bases, 1949
| Percentages | |||||
| Base | Total Tested | Asgmt to Instr Duty | Asgmt to Tech School | Asgmt to Present MOS | Recom for Board Action |
| Lockbourne | |||||
| Male | 970 | .32 | 12.08 | 64.64 | 22.98 |
| Female | 58 | 0.00 | 25.86 | 55.17 | 18.97 |
| Lackland | 247 | 1.62 | 20.65 | 67.61 | 10.12 |
| Barksdale | 158 | 0.00 | 20.25 | 65.82 | 13.93 |
| Randolph | 252 | 2.38 | 26.19 | 57.14 | 14.29 |
| Waco | 146 | 2.06 | 30.14 | 57.53 | 10.27 |
| Mather | 126 | .79 | 27.78 | 40.48 | 30.95 |
| Williams | 144 | 8.33 | 21.53 | 39.58 | 30.56 |
| Goodfellow | 122 | .82 | 36.89 | 40.89 | 21.31 |
| Total | 2,223 | 1.35 | 19.61 | 59.20 | 19.84 |
Source: President's Cmte on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces, "A First Report on the Racial Integration Program of the Air Force," 6 Feb 50, FC file.