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Posted on 09/06/2023 8:07:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
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Rest in peace now hero!
Rest well Lt. I’m proud to be your countryman.
“They never lost a B-17 when they were escorting them.”
After fighting the racism of their officers and training pilots who wanted the experiment to fail, the Luftwaffe was a breeze.
They never lost a bomber to enemy planes and were amongst the first to shoot down a Messerschmitt ME 262.
Two of the Red Tails sank a German destroyer because it was the only thing German around.
Allegedly, late in the war German pilots were told not to engage the Red Tails, run away instead.
Men worth remembering.
It was a great movie.
That’s how I first read it, too.
My dad was in the 333rd Bomb Group, 507th Squadron.
At one point, they stationed out of Tinian. He and his 4 (yes, 4!) brothers enlisted on the same day - My Grandfather had 5 Gold Stars proudly displayed in his front window.
He ran into one of his brothers on the island... his brother was making extra money running a laundry from used plane parts;;;;
I had read enough about the Tuskegee Airman that I wasn’t as impressed by the movie. It was good but I guess I was expecting more from an hour and a half movie.
The TA had an ace card, Captain Benjamin O Davis Jr. The son of the first black General in the US army, Benjamin O Davis Sr, B O DAVIS Jr knew what it would take for his pilots to perform well, much less thrive, in the segregated army.
He was a strict disciplinarian who offered praise when it was due. When TA pilots complained about being relegated to ground support he told them in no uncertain terms that ground support was the mission and they would excel at it. Then, and only then, would they get the chance to fly against the Luftwaffe.
Benjamin O Davis Jr went on to become the first black General in the US Air Force.
Another TA, “Chappie” James, became the first black General to wear four stars.
Look up a picture of B O Davis Jr, the man *looks* fierce.
I saw it long time ago, I remember one pilot who went by the name “A-Train” which was a subway number up in the Bronx.
I saw it when it came on Direct TV.
They really should have done a miniseries on the TA, there is/was enough material there.
The Red Tails as they were called. Amazing men, & the movie, Red Tails, was an amazing movie about them. They were never rightly honored as they should have been when they returned stateside.
“When I saw those P-51’s over Berlin I knew the jig was up!’’.- Hermann Goering to his Allied captors.
Wreckage from Tuskegee airman’s warplane recovered from Lake Huron
News
By Tom Metcalfe published 11 days ago
The recovered wreck will help tell the full story of America’s first Black military pilots.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/wreckage-from-tuskegee-airmans-warplane-recovered-from-lake-huron
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