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<\/a><\/p>\nThe legend of the Red Tailed Angels<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen a few articles lately stirred up by the \u201cRed Tails\u201d movie, and a couple of letters: the Tuskegee Airmen did not have the perfect escort record generally claimed for them, and they were inefficient compared to other escort groups. The claim often made is that no bombers escorted by the 332nd<\/sup> were ever lost to enemy air action. Few claimed that no bombers they escorted were ever shot down, although some accolades say as much, unlikely as that might be \u2013 there\u2019s not much an escort fighter can do about flak. Especially if you\u2019re going to Ploesti, or Berlin.<\/p>\n It turns out neither claim was true. The 332nd<\/sup> did lose some of their bombers to enemy air action, nor should anyone be astonished at that. The Luftwaffe was pretty thin and green by the time the Tuskegee Airmen got well into the bomber escort business, but it still had some good pilots left, and they were defending their homeland against bombardment from the sky. They fought hard. <\/p>\n In the early days, the 99th<\/sup> \u2013 the first of the Tuskegee trained fighter groups \u2013 was mostly given ground support missions (which fighter pilots have always hated) and when given escort missions were often excluded from the mission briefings. The real glory days of the Tuskegee Airmen came with the formation of the 332nd<\/sup> (which incorporated the 99th<\/sup>), and they got the red-tailed P-51 Mustangs in July 1944. Not long after that they went to Ploesti. Ploesti had the best flak defenses USAAF encountered during the war.<\/p>\n They lost some bombers, of course. Most to ground fire, but some to enemy air action. The claim that they never lost a bomber to enemy air action apparently originated in a Chicago newspaper and was picked up and echoed by other journalists. It made a good story, and I never questioned it; but it isn\u2019t true. Over the course of their engagement about 25 bombers were lost to enemy action. It\u2019s hard to get exact numbers, but one back of the envelope calculation shows about 750 US bombers lost to enemy air in the Mediterranean campaign and about 13 fighter groups operating there: that works out to 58 bombers lost\/fighter group. Of course that\u2019s too high since we don\u2019t know what kind of bombers, but from all the evidence I can find, the 332nd<\/sup> had a very low loss ratio, and they didn\u2019t get the easy missions.<\/p>\n It is also true, as some recent articles point out, that the the 332nd<\/sup> had a far lower kill count than many other escort squadrons. As far as I\u2019m concerned that is no criticism: That\u2019s the major reason for their formidable reputation as escort fighters. If you\u2019re after kills, you relentlessly chase down damaged enemy aircraft. That generally leaves you well behind the mission, probably with your wing man. The point of escort missions isn\u2019t to kill fighters. That was the big mistake that the Luftwaffe made in the Battle of Britain. The purpose of escort missions is to get the bombers to their targets \u2013 and to bring them home again, after the enemy has staged his fighters to cover the return route. On the way in there are many potential targets and the interceptors can\u2019t cover them all. They may have to fly a long way and have less attack time before they have to land and refuel. When the bombers are on the way out it\u2019s easier to know where the bombers are going, and to stage pursuit planes along the way. The fighters are fueled and ready and the pilots are fresh. The bombers and their escorts have been halfway to Hell \u2013 particularly if the target is Ploesti \u2013 and now they have to come home again. And if your fighter escorts have been off killing damaged aircraft, the interceptor units get Aces, but fewer of the bombers get home again.<\/p>\n The pride of the Tuskegee Airmen was that they didn\u2019t abandon their bombers. They didn\u2019t get as many kills, and overall they lost more of their own fighters than they shot down, which is why some claim they were the least efficient escort group in the European theater; but they stayed with the mission, and they brought their bombers home. That\u2019s the mission.<\/p>\n View 718 Monday, March 19, 2012 It is spring and tax time. And I am far behind. The legend of the Red Tailed Angels I\u2019ve seen a few articles lately stirred up by the \u201cRed Tails\u201d movie, and a couple of letters: the Tuskegee Airmen did not have the perfect \u2026 Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"