Sailing through the blue
Gallant sons of the 99th -
Brown men tried and true
We are the Heroes of the night -
To hell with the Axis might
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Fighting 99th.
Rat-tat, Rat-tat-tat -
Down in flames they go
The withering fire of the 99th -
sends them down below
We are the Heroes of the night -
To hell with the Axis might
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Fighting 99th.
Drink-k up-p, Drain your cup-p -
To those daring men
(To those daring men)
Flying torch of flame,
Oh GOD-D - Red White and Blue -
Amen.
For-r We-e Ar-re -
Heroes of the ninth
To Hell with the Axis might
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Fighting 99th
WINGS!!
--fighting song of the 99th Fighter Group, one of the 9 African-American squadrons which served in WWII.
TUSKEGEE, AL. July, 1941.
13 African-American men were crazy enough to take up the offer the Army Air Corps had grudgingly given. They began training to become America's first black military airmen. Five earned their wings.
By the time the war ended, there were 994. About half of them served overseas.
The Tuskegee Airmen's main job was to protect bombers. Flying svelt P-51 Mustangs painted with the Tuskegee signature red tails, they stuck close to the clunky bombers, attacking enemy aircraft that threatened it. At first the bomber pilots weren't to sure about flying with those black folk who supposedly had less intelligence and skill than a true pilot, a white pilot.
The bomber pilots knew how the system worked. The usual fighter planes would fly with the bomber until the enemy was spotted. The fighters would attack the enemy straightaway, in order to keep them from the bomber.
The Tuskegee Airmen just stuck to their bombers. Instead of leaving their bombers alone while the fighters were chasing enemy aircraft, the Tuskegee Airmen kept their Mustangs close to the bomber and attacked when the enemy aircraft reached a short range. The only hitch in the strategy was that it took a ridiculous amount of self-control to sit in a predictable position while the enemy flew with all the freedom in the sky. Luckily for the bomber crew the Tuskegee Airmen weren't short on moxie.
The Tuskegee Airmen began building up a reputation on both sides of the war. Bomber pilots began requesting the "Red Tail Angels" escort them on missions. The enemy began to fear the red tail. It has been said they never lost a bomber, but in fact they probably lost about 25 bombers. 25 bombers out of 1,500 missions.
Despite their record, the Tuskegee Airmen continued to fight racism and segregation until many white units voiced complaints that they were short staffed and needed the Tuskegee Airmen's expertise. President Truman gave Executive Order 9981 which demanded equal treatment of all races.
9 comments:
Sounds like a heckuva way to earn the respect of their fellow airmen.
Was the decision to give them this "sitting duck" role wholly influenced by racism? Were there white units that had the same protection role?
I don't think the "sitting duck" role was influenced by racism. I don't know why they were trained that way. I don't know of any white units that flew with the same technique.
The "Sitting duck" role you mentioned... as far as I understand, that was their leader, Benjamin O. Davis, one of the Tuskegee pilots who went on to become a decorated General much later, who ordered his pilots to stick with the bombers.
The Red Tails were all about "Protect the Bomber!" Their leader never allowed them to break off too far away from the bombers, for the ultimate goal was protecting the bombers, not going for the individual glory.
This is probably a big reason the Red Tails had such a low individual victory rate ( Lt. Lee Archer was the only Tuskegee Ace - 5 kills) - this is a credit to the Red Tails, in my opinion.
I say the best record speaks for itself : the number of bombers they protected that actually came back home vs. the individual glory victory kills. They got balls.
Thank you, anonymous!
You're welcome, and incidentally, I didn't pay attention... if I'm not mistaken, the young man standing next to his plane is none other than Benjamin O. Davis, the Tuskegee Airmen's leader. That looks like his P-47 Thunderbolt. (they transitioned on to the P-51 B/C then D "Mustangs" later on, which were the planes that we know of as the "Red Tails" with the brightly painted Vermillion Red on the tails.
The plane in the color shot is a P-51C Mustang, a "show Mustang" (none of the Tuskegee P-51s survived after the war, as far as anyone knows) This is from the Commemorative Air Force, and the plane is named "TUSKEGEE -By Request" in honor of the 332nd Fighter Group, which consisted of the 99th, 100, 301 and 302nd Fighter Squadrons. You can see the 4 Insignias under the canopy.
Sadly, a few years ago, the "TUSKEGEE - By Request" crash landed at an air-show, with the pilot dying the next day from his injuries.
www.redtail.org talks about this. They're in the process of slowly rebuilding this plane.
Another Tuskegee "show" P-51C is out there that I know of: the #72 "INA the Macon Belle." This is a rebuilt P-51C in the colors of, you guessed it, the only Tuskegee Ace's plane. Lee A. Archer.
Go out there and read about these fantastic men and their fantastic planes. Truly inspiring.
Forgive my posting anonymously - spam just sucks, and I don't feel like setting up a bunk ID.
:-)
I totally understand keeping your identity to keep from spam. I do wonder how such a knowledgeable person on Tuskegee Airmen tripped over my blog.
I'm sorry to hear about the pilot of the show plane. I had found the site you mentioned, and I poked around it finding the history of the Tuskegee Airmen. I didn't realize there was a tragic history of that particular plane.
I was surprised to find out Davis was standing next to a Thunderbolt. I knew they switched planes, but I really can't tell the difference from that angle. I guess that means that picture dates to the beginning of the Airmen?
Thanks again for all this information! I count myself lucky that you came by. Your our mysterious guest of honor.
It's funny that I'm "anonymous" -- the Redtails were indeed "anonymous" to many bomber groups. It was a fact that many bombers had no idea that the very "Red Tailed Angels" that they so requested often (because of their reputation of having an excellent track record in protecting the bombers) were young black pilots. There's even a story of a disabled B-25 bomber that lumbered on to Ramitelli Army Air base in Italy, where the 332nd was based in the late stages of the war - the bomber crew was delighted to see all the Red Tails on the airfield as they approached for a landing. Imagine their utter shock to see that everyone was black on the base - pilots, ground crew, leaders, etc. :-)
Oh, about the P-47 photo - a couple of things that makes it not a P-51 right away: the cowl is just too massive on a P-47, while it's so tiny on a P-51... plus the P-47 is missing the trademark exhaust pipes that would be sticking out of a Mustang's Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. (Yes, the Mustangs had British Rolls-Royce engines! Another beautiful piece of history about the American and British collaboration on the P-51 planes)
Check out INA the Macon Belle at :
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/survivors/pages/42-103831.shtml
Check some "rear-ish" shots to compare the tiny cowl vs the P-47's massive cowl, and the Mustang's exhaust pipes being there.
Ah, I've talked enough. Oh, and Benjamin O. Davis eventually named his P-51 Mustang "By Request" as a snicker that the bombers always requested the Red Tails, often not knowing that they were black pilots. :-)
Finally, Kat, I found your site because you called the topic "Red Tail Angels" and that was my Google-Fu search string. :-D
Thanks again! I'm using those tips to tell Mustangs from only a piece of the plane. I never knew that they had Rolls-Royce engines! All this new information makes me giddy. Keep stopping by!
I found the "By Request" name pure genius. I wonder how bomber pilots reacted when they found out they were going to fly with minorities!
I go to Washington every year and I just got back to find out I missed visiting his grave at Arlington. Next year I'm going on a mission to find him.
While I was there I also found a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen playing on a TV at the FDR Memorial of all places. I was so excited to find out there was a movie about them I know have it on the top of the Blockbuster list.
I read a source that said there was discrimination with regard to black fighter pilots becoming aces; quite a few were deactivated with a record of 4 kills specifically so that they would not become aces. Would be an interesting topic for further research.
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