expansion program was launched in 1939 to train four new pursuit groups at Selfridge for eventual assignment to other GHQ fields. Many of the temporary frame buildings still in use today were built at that time, when a $13.5 million construction program was started at Selfridge. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 again brought many changes to Selfridge Field. The 17th Pursuit Squadron, a member of the 1st Pursuit Group since June 1918, was reassigned to the Philippines. More Selfridge pilots left for the Pacific in a surprise move early in 1940, when 40 pilots and mechanics volunteered to serve with Gen. Claire Chennault and his Flying Tigers. They left for Rangoon early in the summer. World War II Selfridge was a World War II army airfield of the First Air Force and the location where Colonel Lawrence P. Hickey headed a cadre that organized the VIII Interceptor Command on 19 January 1942 (transferred to Charleston AAF on 13 February, arrived RAF High Wycombe on 12 May). On 29 March 1943, the 332d Fighter Group of the Tuskegee Airmen completed its move to Selfridge. The commander of the Tuskegee's European and Mediterranean operations was Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the first black officer to graduate from West Point in the 20th century, and later the first black Air Force general. Scandal hit Selfridge on 5 May 1943, when the commander Colonel William Colman was charged with shooting Private William MacRae, a black chauffeur who was assigned to drive him. Early reports stated that the incident occurred because Colman's regular driver was off-duty and a dispatcher was unaware of his standing order that he not have a black driver. Following the incident, accusations of several other improper occurrences at the base including misappropriation of government property, procurement of unlawful transfers and exchange of goods for transfers. Colman was found guilty of careless use of firearms after a court martial and demoted to captain. However, he was acquitted of 23 other charges that included authorizing illegal transfers, accepting bribes and theft of government property. The 477th Composite Group was formed at Selfridge on 15 January 1944 to train Tuskegee Airmen with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and North American B-25 Mitchell bombers. Following a reprimand of the Selfridge AAF commander for segregating blacks, the Group relocated "without any prior warning or notification to its personnel to Godman Field, Kentucky, on 5