Posted on 04/01/2007 11:40:19 AM PDT by EveningStar
At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft, according to a new Air Force report.
The report contradicts the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to fire from enemy aircraft...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
God Bless Bob Williams, and Tuskeegee Airman bump.
WHAT??
That's not what I was taught in school. Uh oh......
Lol. I have also heard that if you shave a dog down only half it's side . . . .
I don't think I was showing that much ignorance. The P-40 was being obsoleted at the time of WII. But, even the Gloster Gladiators Faith, Hope and Charity had their moment of fame.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means..... Strange choice, but not totally out of wack considering the source and your track record on this thread...
According to my Funk & Waggnal...
“ignorance” means the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.
And
“stupidity” means not having the common sense to stop being ignorant.
Now, you are getting me to change my opinion of you from ignorant to stupid.
You need to understand, my modern day Vizzini, like Iocaine powder, acquired knowledge will allow you to sip from any goblet without harm...
Therefore, do not speak with authority unless you know what you speak of...
Otherwise... Must I say it?
Yes, I must... 
“Get used to disappointment.”
Now stop that ... you’re having too much fun.
At least - I think - we can agree that we share an interest in a corney, but imo, good movie, and old warplanes.
I'd prefer to take my chances with the condom, no disrespect to the brave pilots.
you son of a bitch!
Bender's a mean drunk!
he scares the crap out of me!
Report disputes Tuskegee Airmen legend
By Lisa Horn
Montgomery Advertiser
March 31, 2007
A new report from the Air Force shows that the Tuskegee Airmen lost at least 25 bombers that they escorted in World War II, shattering the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to enemy fire.
Daniel Haulman, historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base, based his paper on after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups, as well as missing air crew records and witness testimony.
Haulman’s report specifically focused on five days — June 9, 1944; July 12, 1944; July 18, 1944; July 20, 1944; and March 24, 1945 — on which he found 25 planes that the Tuskegee Airmen had escorted were shot down.
He said further research could show other planes may have been shot down as well during the Tuskegee Airmen’s 311 missions with the 332nd Fighter Group.
The report, issued Wednesday, comes in the same week as one of the group’s greatest honors. On Thursday, the surviving airmen and ground crew members received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Bush in Washington.
Haulman used the records to substantiate what he and William Holton, national historian for Tuskegee Airmen Inc., the group formed by the surviving Tuskegee Airmen, had theorized in a report released last year.
Haulman stumbled upon the numbers two years ago when he began research on the Tuskegee Airmen’s aerial victory credits.
“It looked like the documents were contradicting the statement,” he said. “And the documents were written by the Tuskegee Airmen themselves.”
Both historians studied the same records.
“All of these records have been here all along,” Haulman said. “It was just a matter of putting them together.”
Haulman said that getting a total for the number of bombers that were shot down during the Tuskegee Airmen’s 311 missions with the 332nd could be done, but would be time consuming because it involves cross-checking several different accounts and records. He estimated an expert familiar with the record’s locations could research about two missions a day, which means researching all 311 missions would take about 156 days.
Haulman discovered the claim that the Tuskegee Airmen had never lost a bomber they escorted to enemy fire first appeared on March 24, 1945, in an article in the black newspaper Chicago Defender, with the headline “332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without Loss.”
The information was attributed only to “the 15th Air Force, Italy.”
“In fact, on the very day the claim was published, more bombers under 332nd Fighter Group escort were shot down,” Haulman wrote.
The historian also discovered that former airman Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. told historian Al Gropman in a 1990s interview that he was unsure whether the Tuskegee Airmen had lost a bomber.
Holton, who lives in Columbia, Md., insists the discovery of lost bombers in no way tarnishes the Tuskegee Airmen’s record.
The losses, Holton said, were considered well within acceptable limits to knock out their often heavily defended targets.
“It’s impossible not to lose bombers,” said Holton, who established the Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Documentation Project a decade ago at Howard University in Washington.
A former Tuskegee Airman who lives in Tuskegee would not comment on the report because he has no information to either substantiate or disprove it.
“(There are) too many technicalities to be accurate or positive,” said Herbert E. Carter, who retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. “Either side could be right or could be wrong.”
Alabama historian Richard Bailey thinks Haulman’s work is credible, “well-researched, well-reported.”
“One of the things I like about the report is (Haulman) makes every attempt to be even-handed,” he said. “Nothing that can be said about these guys will take away any of their achievement. The luster is still there.”
Holton agreed.
“Our outreach is always to younger people,” he said. “If we’re going to get them in to support the legacy that was built up during the war, that legacy should be perpetuated by truthful methods, rather than by believing in myths.”
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703310337
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.