Volunteering to go to war to defend the freedom of others, this group of men’s own country treated them as second class citizens. Many didn’t think they were capable of fighting a modern war, with modern machines, others simply did not want them there at all.
They are celebrated as the first and only all-black fighter group in the United States army air force. Known as the Tuskegee airmen, or the red tails, they are quite rightly remembered with respect and admiration.
They are viewed, and quite correctly so,with similar esteem, and considered equal to other American airmen fighting in the world’s biggest conflict to date. This, I would hope, nobody watching the video would disagree with. However, overtime and largely through no fault of their own, the Tuskegee airmen and their legend has been exaggerated, and several myths about their excellent wartime service have developed.
During my regular research sessions, I came across an intriguing paper by Dr Daniel L. Haulmanm, which delved into the Red Tail legend and uncovered a few porky pies.
So, if you think you know who the Red tails were, you might have to think again as we bust several Tuskegee airmen myths in this video.
The false claim that the Tuskegee Airmen “never lost a bomber”
There are two wonderful movies about the compelling exploits of the African-American pilots who fought in WW2. The first is “The Tuskegee Airmen”, a 1995 Television movie put out by HBO and more recently the 2012 Anthony Hemingway “Red Tails”.
They are an homage to four squadrons of men. Firstly the 99th fighter squadron which made up the first batch of Tuskegee trained pilots sent into action in 1943. As well as the 332nd Fighter group, made up of three other all-black squadrons, which entered the fray in 1944.
In each movie there is a very poignant moment where the white establishment forgets how racist it is and “requests” the 332nd fighter group for escort duty.
Why the sudden change of heart?
Well it’s been put down to their effectiveness as long range fighter escorts, which is not entirely wrong, but not entirely perfect.
The myth, that is partially behind these emotion- fueled movie moments, is the idea that the Tuskegee airmen never, not even once, lost a bomber to enemy fighters during the war. This has been repeated in books, on TV and in endless online forums for years. But the fact of the matter is, it’s simply not true.
It seems that the myth began during the war with an issue of Liberty Magazine from March 1945., in an article it was claimed that the black pilots had not lost a bomber under their protection to enemy aircraft in over 100 missions. By this point the 332nd Fighter Group would have flown more than 200 missions. Another article that came out just two weeks later, this time in the Chicago Defender, made the same claim but upped it to 200 missions
However, the fact of the matter is that, of the the 312 missions the Tuskegee Airmen flew for the Fifteenth Air Force between early June 1944 and late April 1945, only 179 of those missions were to escort bombers.
Without a doubt the 332nd fighter group lost bombers to flak on most of the 179 bomber escort missions they flew. This is entirely forgivable because they can’t control or defend against anti-aircraft fire. But the false claim is that no German fighters got close enough to shoot an American bomber down under the Red tail’s watch.
When you go through the record as Haulman did, you find that the Red Tails were escorting bomber formations on at least 7 days where loses to enemy fighter were incurred. A total of 27 bombers were lost to fighters under the noses of the 332nd. As this information was carefully documented and its pilots were witness to these losses, you’d think they would be the ones to dispel the myth.
On the contrary, at times celebrated Tuskegee airmen have been the ones to support the “perfect score” myth themselves.
In an interview after the war with Benjamin O Davies Jr, commander of the 332nd, he took an unexpected stance. When asked about this claim he said that he had been dubious about it himself at first, but remarked it was becoming accepted as fact.
This is very surprising seeing that the citation for his own Distinguished Flying Cross, dated 31 August 1944 reads: ,“Colonel Davis so skillfully disposed his squadrons that in spite of the large number of enemy fighters, the bomber formation suffered only a few losses.”‘
If you were to track down the post combat report, you’d likely see that those “few losses” were indeed to Axis fighters.
Why did some of these men come to believe this myth when, they themselves, lived through the events? Well, it’s possible that they just never took the time to verify the facts and contrary to the movie’s strong theme, they didn’t measure their success in how many bomber got home. Rather, they were just glad to have survived themselves.
The idea that Tuskegee Airmen only flew P51 Mustangs
Another misconception is that the Red tails flew only P-51s. There is a confusing moment in the 1995 movie where Hannibal Lee, played by Laurence Fishburne is surprised by his crew chief with a brand new P-51. Apparently no one told the production team that the actors had been flying the exact same aeroplanes for much of the film up until then. Perhaps we were supposed to pretend they were P-51 Bs, but I don’t remember getting the memo.
Red tails in 2012 did a slightly better job and had the squadrons flying P-40s in the Desert and over the Med. However, as some viewers have since commented, they were pretty special Warhawks which had all the difficulty setting turned right down, including unlimited ammo.
In reality the 332nd, and All those African-American units deployed before the Fighter group’s creation flew a variety of aircraft.
Initially in 1942, the Tuskegee airmen were trained on the Curtiss P-40 and Bell – P-39. In fact, when the 99th fighter squadron arrived at a former luftwaffe base near Fez, Morocco in April 1943,, they were to operate the P-40L. This was a lightened version of the Warhawk with less armour protection and only 4 out of the original 6 .50 cals.
Complete greenhorns, the unit was helped by 3 veterans of the desert campaign and in particular by Col Philip Corcoran.
He provided the following advice based on his own combat experiences.
“You P-40 pilots are the most courageous aviators in the war,
‘The Me 109 and the Fw 190 can outrun, out- climb and out-dive the P-40, so you’ll have to stay and fight! But there’s one thing you can do – the P-40 can out-turn every fighter the Germans have, except one built by the Italians, The Macchi 202, and there aren’t many of those in the theater. So if you get jumped, get into a tight turn, reef it in as tight as you can without stalling and just wait him out. If he tries to stay with you, you’ll eventually end up on his tail’.
Corcoran also taught the african-american pilots how to dive-bombing, a key skill they would be using over the coming months.
When the 100th fighter squadron, which would be attached to the 332nd fighter group, arrived in Italy in February, they had high hopes for modern fighters. Expecting perhaps the P-38 or new P-63 Kingcobra, they were met with second hand P-39 Airacobras at their new base. The 301st and 302nd soon arrived to the same disappointment.
Assigned to coastal patrols, the danger of operating aging single engine fighters over the sea soon revealed itself. The first pilot to be lost by the group, Clemenceau Givings, bailed out of his P-39 after engine failure, only to drown in Naples harbor.
In April 1944, the group started to receive its first P-47s. Again these were hand-me downs, but much more desirable than the P-39s for low level strafing missions. As more Thunderbolts arrived, the group started transition training for all its pilots. However, several accidents ensued and one pilot was lost in a crash, another simply got lost and landed at a German-controlled airfield. His captured P-47 was quickly dispatched for evaluation by the Germans.
It’s with the P-47 that the Red tails legend begins as these were the first 332nd aircraft to be painted with the color scheme.
While the squadrons of the 332nd had been learning the ropes with their newer P-47s, the 99th fighter squadron was still operating its old P-40Ls. They officially joined the all african-american fighter group in July 1944, something many of the experienced pilots of the 99th resented. Forced to fly with a green unit as well as being segregated again from their former white comrades, there was one silver lining.
By the end of the month, the entire group had been re-equipped with the P-51 Mustang, either a B or C model. The group also began receiving the D model by the end of 1944.
The false claim that a Tuskegee Airman was an ace but one of his 5 aerial victories was taken away
I don’t think we can deny that the men of the 332nd suffered enormous obstacles in their path to combat duties. Many of these were racially motivated. However, one false claim seems to be playing on their underdog status, with no basis in fact at all.
It was said that the white establishment did not want any African-American pilots to obtain the coveted title of ace. It has been said that any pilot who got close to the magic score of 5 aerial victories was sent, at all haste, back to the states. It has even been claimed that at least one actual ace had his fifth victory discredited, to keep him off the list of aces . All of this was an attempt by racist white officers to show that a black man didn’t have what it takes to become an ace.
The main proponent of this allegation seems to be Lee “Buddy” Archer who was credited with at least 4 aerial victories, three of which he achieved in a single day on 12 October 1944.
In a 2005 War stories compilation by Oliver North, It was claimed by Archer that he had indeed shot down a fifth aircraft, which was later shared between him and a mystery pilot. In the same book,it was said that Archer’s own half was subsequently rescinded and the other half victory never actually awarded. Archer explained the reasoning behind this by saying “I figure somebody up the line just wasn’t ready for a black guy to be an ace.”
In an earlier interview in 2001, Archer had repeated the same claims and actually named the other pilot who shared in his fifth victory as Freddie Hutchins.
Research now suggests that no victory occurred on the day stated, and therefore Archer never officially entered the realm of ace hood.
This didn’t stop people, including some well known writers and publications, from printing the myth. This included Charles E. Francis, himself based near Tuskegee, in his original 1955 book, The Tuskegee airmen.
In the same 2001 interview, Archer had mentioned that he was asked to speak at an American Fighter Aces Association event the previous year. This has been taken by some to mean that he had been inducted into the fighter ace club. However, other non-aviators also spoke at the same event, including Charlton Heaston. They were not made aces either.
As for pilots being sent home on the eve of achieving their 4th victory, this isn’t entirely true.
Several men did leave combat at the time they had inched that much closer to ace status, but it was usually because their tour was up or another legitimate reason. Several other pilots, such as 1st Lt. Lee Archer and Captain Edward Toppins remained on active duty long after being credited with a 4th victory.
Archer went back to the United States the month after he scored his fourth aerial victory which was the same month he received official credit for it. Toppins didn’t go back to the United States until nearly 2 months after he scored and got credit for his fourth aerial victory. Captain Joseph Elsberry scored his fourth in July 1944 and wasn’t deployed away from the front until December. So there seems to have been little institutionalized conspiracy against the African American pilots.
Interestingly enough, several Tuskegee men obtained 4 victories to their credit, but none officially met the criteria of Ace.
Of course, while reading up on this topic, I had to ask myself were there any bonafide black aces? If not in WW2 then perhaps in Korea or Vietnam. As far as I could tell, there hasn’t been one yet and that can only be down to lack of opportunity. If I’m wrong about that, please correct me in the comments.
The false claim that the Tuskegee Airmen were the first American pilots to shoot down German jets
In the bittersweet moment of the 2012 Red tails blockbuster, Joe Little, played by David Oyelowo, goes head to head with the evil German fighter pilot and shoots him down, only to be killed by the risky attack. Little might be dead, but so too is one of the Luftwaffe’s state of the art Me 262 jets. This movie moment is inspired by another myth often told about the Tuskegee airmen.
It has been claimed by many since 1945 that the 332nd were the first unit to down one of these German jets. It’s simply not true.
In his paper Haulman highlights an article from March 2007, published in American Forces Press Service. While discussing the award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen it says clearly in black and white that Roscoe Brown was ‘The first US. pilot to down a German Messerschmitt jet.”.
(source)
It’s likely that this information was included in the article based on comments made by Lee Archer, in his 2001 interview. In it, he said that “guys like Roscoe Brown and three other people shot down the first jets in our history. in combat.”
There is no doubt that 1st Lts. Roscoe Brown, Earl R. Lane, and 2d Lt. Charles V. Brantley, each claimed a Me-262 on March 24.1945, which were all later credited.
Nevertheless, by this date, American pilots had shot down 60 Me 262s, many being claimed by the 8th Air force.
So, perhaps Archer merely meant that Brown and his squadron mates were the first in the 15th air force to be victorious over the German jet?
Well, even that doesn’t make sense as 1st Lt Eugene P. McGlauflin and 2d Lt. Roy L. Scales, who flew with the 31st Fighter Group of the Fifteenth Air Force, held that claim. The two pilots shared a Me-262 shot down on 22 December 1944. If that wasn’t enough, Capt. William J. Dillard, got another Me 262 on the 22nd march 1945. He was also attached to the Fifteenth Air Force’s 308th Fighter Squadron, the same as McGlauflin and Scales.
To further dispute the claim is the fact that on March 24,1945, the very day the Tuskegee Airmen shot down their three Me 262s, five other American pilots did the same. All of them from the Fifteenth Air Force. All on the same mission to Berlin. Each of them with the 31st Fighter Group.
So, was Lee Archer lying, or was it just a fuzzy memory of events. I would argue perhaps his statement came down to semantics. Perhaps “our history” didn’t mean the air force a whole, but merely the men who had trained at Tuskegee.
The false claim that the Tuskegee Airmen sank a German destroyer by strafing alone
Another much repeated Tuskegee Airmen myth is that they sunk a German destroyer. Again, if we turn back to popular culture, both movies about the Tuskegee airmen show a similar scene. In the earlier one Lawerence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding Jr. blow up a destroyer, and in the 2012 movie David O manages the same feat.
But how much truth is there in these dramatic movie moments?
It is true that many a mighty naval ship was sunk by single engine fighters equipped with bombs or rockets. The claim is that a sole african-american pilot did it with just his guns. While this might be possible in the video game era, achieving such a feat with 50 cals alone in reality is a tall order.
As Halman explained in his paper, this myth has some basis in fact, but is certainly an over exaggeration.
Firstly, to be completely pedantic, the movies are wrong purely on the fact that they depict P-51s in the action, when in fact the group was still flying p-47s.
On the 25th of June 1944, 8 of the 332nd’s P-47s encountered a German destroyer in the Adriatic sea near to Trieste. They attacked with their guns, and two of the pilots returned to take another starfing pass.
It was confidently believed by the pilots that they had indeed destroyed the ship. This probably led Lee Archer, who’s getting a bit too much flak in this video, to say that “we sank a destroyer escort” and to prove it to the naysayers, “we sent them the film”.
Immediately this is a little bit suspect because while the gun camera footage may have shown the strafing runs, it wouldn’t have shown a ship sinking in real time.
As the pilots didn’t have a habit of making things like this up, did any German destroyer sink on the 25th of June 1944?
Well, records show that the only ship in the area which was attacked by aircraft, was the former Italian destroyer, Guiseppei Missori. It had been converted into a large torpedo boat by the Germans and designated as TA 22.
While heavily damaged, TA 22 didn’t sink that day. However, It was later decommissioned and scuttled in Trieste in 1945. As TA 22 took no further part in the war, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say the Tuskegee airmen sunk her in spirit.
This being said, no single pilot achieved that feat and none witnessed her sink.
In his book, Charles Francis claimed that Gwynne W.Pierson and Wendell O. Pruitt , the men behind the June 25 1944 action, WERE awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He also claimed that Pierson was given sole credit for sinking the ship.
Unfortunately, Pierson was only awarded one DFC, and it was for his action on August 14.1944. While Pruitt’s own DFC was as a result of his action on August 27, 1944.
So, we have to conclude that while it makes for a cool movie moment, no single African American pilot, nor probably another American, SUNK a German destroyer with guns alone.
The false claim that the Tuskegee Airmen were inferior to the white pilots in combat.
The next myth is really two myths lumped together and are essentially two sides to the same coin
There is no denying that the United States fought one of the greatest struggles for freedom with a segregated army and under the shadow of Jim Crow laws back home.
This led to all manner of obstacles in training, deployment and the promotion of men. Black officers and Military Police could not be put in a position of authority over white servicemen or civilians for fear of social unrest. This also made it difficult to promote Black officers to lead their men, especially in the 99th fighter squadron. As this unit spent more than a year attached to “white” fighter groups, having white NCOs and men serve under even a Black Lieutenant would be inappropraite during those bigoted times.
The pinnacle of this messy situation was the attempt to prove that African-Americans were unfit for duty as fighter pilots.
The commander of the 33d Fighter Group, Colonel William Momyer, wasn’t happy with having the 99th fighter squadron attached to him. Perhaps it was purely the fact that he already had 3 white fighter squadrons to deal with. Nevertheless his complaints escalated to XII Air Support Command.
On the 16 September 1943, Major General Edwin J. House sent a memorandum to Major General J. K. Cannon. It basically called into question the combat efficiency of the 99th Fighter Squadron, which up to this point was not being used to its greatest potential.
The memorandum claimed among other things that the African-Americans did not have “ the proper reflexes to make a first-class fighter pilot “. House went on to suggest that the 99th Fighter Squadron be redeployed to duties behind the front lines. A second memorandum, this time penned by General Cannon himself, supported the first and was forwarded to Lt. Gen. Carl Spaatz in September 1943. It said “The pilots of the 99th Fighter Squadron fall well below the standard of other fighter squadrons of this Command…”
These notes were then in turn sent from Spaatz to Gen. Henry “Hap“ Arnold on 19 September 1943, which ironically expressed his “full confidence in the fairness of the analysis made by both General Cannon and General House.“
The fact of the matter is that as soon as the 99th fighter squadron was attached to another fighter group, and given more opportunities, they became very effective indeed compared to white P-40 squadrons.
When the unit joined the all black 332nd fighter group, on paper they even started to outshine their white counterparts. As Haulman points out, on average the 7 fighter groups of the 15th air force lost 46 bombers each between June 1944 and April 1945. The 332nd apparently only lost 27 on their own watch.
So that means that instead of being inferior to white units, the 33nd was in fact superior to them, right?
Well, not exactly.
The false claim that the Tuskegee Airmen were superior to the white pilots in combat.
What struck me when researching this topic is the urge society seems to have to elevate minority groups to the same level and then often above those that have suppressed them.
African-Americans have had a difficult history, and that is putting it very mildly. So, it’s all too easy to go beyond the equality all people deserve and overcorrect by saying, actually they were much better than others.
This is the other side of the coin. The Tuskegee airmen were certainly no worse than any white unit, but they weren’t necessarily any better either.
So, on paper we have the 332nd losing only 27 bombers to the 46 average of the other 6 fighter groups in the 15th air force. This is measured over a period from June 1944 to the end of the European war. The average was calculated by substracting the 27 bombers lost under the escort of the Tuskegee airment from the total bombers lost under the 15th airforce, so that’s 303-27. That left 276 to be divided between 6 other fighter groups, giving an average of 46 bombers lost per group.
Of course the reality is that one of the other P-51 units or a P-38 unit lost significantly more than this average. Perhaps even, they lost less that the 332nd. There is also the fact that the Tusekee airmen flew just 179 bomber escort missions during the period, while other fighter groups may have flown more or less leading to more chance of losing bombers..
Based on those stats alone, they were better. But there’s another important factor to take into consideration.
Colonel William Momyer of the 33d Fighter Group seemed annoyed to have a fourth fighter squadron to deal with when the 99th was attached to him. Most Fighter Groups only had 3 fighter squadrons. When the 99th fighter squadron was assigned to the 332nd fighter group in mid-1944, it was again one of four.
So immediately, the Tuskegee airmen had one more squadron than their white counterparts. As each fighter squadron was assigned 25 aircraft as of December 1943, this meant the 332nd had 100 aircraft compared to the 75 other 15th air force fighter groups had.
Although not all of these aircraft would be deployed on a single mission, the 332nd routinely took off with 60 fighters and as many as 72. Most other fighter groups could only muster 50 or 55 fighters.
So immediately, the Tuskegee airmen had an advantage in numbers over other American units.
However, when you look at aerial victories between June 1944 and April 1945, you see that the 332nd shot down 94 enemy aircraft. The 15th air force had three other P-51 Fighter groups, in addition to their P -38 units. Each of these managed to shoot down in excess of 200 enemy aircraft in the same period.
In this regard, the Tuskegee airmen can be shown to be less effective in combat than the other units. Could this be a lack of physical ability, or was it down to poorer training? I might argue that it was more likely down to doctrine and missions flown.
As the movie would have us believe, the Tuskegee airmen got their reputation by staying with the bombers instead of chasing feints and diversionary attacks in the hope of glory.
Or was it just that while other fighter groups were being assigned to bomber escort missions, the 332nd was engaged in other missions less prone to aerial combat.
So I think Haulman’s conclusion is justified, They were not worse, but they were also not better. In the long run, they proved to be equal.
The false claim that a Tuskegee Airmen flew more combat missions than any other Air Force pilot
One of the most interesting characters to come out of the Tuskegee program was the late Colonel Charles Mcgee. If you don’t know much about him you can watch my video about his career in the link above.
Some like to claim that McGee, who saw combat in WW2, Korea and Vietnam, flew more combat missions than any other American pilot.
McGee clocked up 409 sorties, which on its own is an incredible achievement not least because he did so in so many wars. While not the only Tuskegee airmen to see combat in conflicts post-1945, unlike them he did so as a fighter pilot.
However, in terms of missions flown, there are several American pilots who have flown many more than 409.
Firstly, there’s Colonel Alan Gropman who is credited with clocking up 671 missions in Vietnam. While this is a very impressive number and much higher than McGee’s own achievement – Gropman was a transport aircraft pilot and didn’t fly fighters.
Ok, so McGee might not have the most missions, but he must have the most missions as a fighter pilot, right?
Well, not quite.
Major Kenneth Raymond Hughey, took part in no fewer than 564 combat missions in Vietnam. He would probably have flown more but was shot down and became a prisoner.
Ok, so perhaps Hughey did fly 155 more missions than McGee, but unlike McGee, he didn’t fly them across three different conflicts.
That must mean that McGee is still the holder of that title,otherwise why would people make these claims?
Well, Col. Ralph S. Parr Jr., flew a total of 641 combat missions as a P-38 pilot in WW2, then in F-80s and F- 86s in Korea and finally in F-4Cs and F-4Ds in just two combat missions in Vietnam. It seems he was pipped to the post by just two sorties by Parr.
Well, if he’s not the pilot with the most missions or the most over three wars, he has to be the only African American to fly more than 400 combat sorties, right?
Again, no. According to Haulman, that honor goes to Richard Toliver who completed two
tours in Vietnam, and accumulated a total of 446 combat missions. Not a Tuskegee Airman himself, Toliver undoubtedly was walking in their footsteps when he achieved this amazing feat.
Therefore, as amazing as McGee’s career was, and though he flew 409 danger-filled combat missions from Europe to the mountains and jungles of Asia, he cannot claim the title of most missions flown by an American in combat.
So hopefully you’ve found this myth busting experience as interesting as I did to research it. The achievement of the Tuskegee airmen cannot be diminished and they certainly don’t need to be exaggerated.
Let me know in the comments what you think and how many of these myths you thought were true. Also, be sure to like the video to help it spread to others.
If you want to learn more about Charles McGee, why not check out my video about him on screen now, perhaps I even fell into some of these traps myself.
