Tuskegee Airmen

[Leo Etgen]

Hello all

I just noticed this news article concerning the famed Tuskegee Airmen. It seems as if at least 25 bombers under their care were lost to enemy fighters based on USAAF records. Perhaps some of you may find this interesting. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070401/...uskegee_airmen

Horrido!

Leo

[John Beaman]

Thanks, Leo.

Anyone who has spent time studying WWII aviation knows the claim was simply untrue and impossible. However, PC in the USA today is so pervasive that to suggest something contrary gets you nothing but epitaphs and verbal assaults. It is nice to see someone, with credibility, willing to speak out, at last.

The 332nd did great service under incredibly bad social conditions. They never needed such a claim to embellish their great record. However, age and egos have a way of changing peoples sense of self-value and worth. It is unfortunate but true. The AVG is another example. Records have verified over 180 of their 296 claimed kills, which is very credible, but they now say the Japanese records are all lies and they claim, at some reunions, I am told, that they actually shot down over 600. They really don't need to do this, but.....

[Klaus Schiffler]

Here are two of the many claims made by the Tuskegee Airmen organization (332nd FG):

"What resulted was an enviable accomplishment that no other fighter group in the United States Army Air Force would match. The Tuskegee Airmen would not lose one single bomber they escorted to enemy fighters."

"On June 25 (1944), Wendel O. Pruitt, leading a flight of Tuskegee Airmen together with Lieutenant Gwynn Pierson, jointly sank a German destroyer using only machine guns. This was the only such sinking in the entire war, and a most important victory for the Tuskegee Airmen."

The first claim has finally been challenged and refuted since at least 25 bombers which the 332nd was escorting were lost to German fighters.

Regarding the second claim, the ship in question was the German torpedo boat TA.22 (ex-Italian Giuseppe Missori) which was severely damaged off Trieste which was able to return to port, was never repaired, and was scuttled in May 1945. No mention is made of German casualties on the boat. Source: Warship Losses of World War Two by David Brown.

One cannot criticize the pilots for misidentifying a small warship since this was quite often the case for Air Force personnel. Naval aviators were trained in ship recognition and, thus, did not make this mistake as often. Even the claim of the ship sinking can be forgiven since this occurred frequently and pilots could not stay around until the ship finally sank, since this could take hours and sometimes days. What is wrong here is that the claim for the sinking has not been challenged or that the Tuskegee organization has never taken the time to at least identify the ship that they allegedly sank. And if they have, they have buried the truth.