Essay 1425

Doubt Is Cast on Air Group’s Perfect Record

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — It has been part of the lore of America’s first black fighter pilots since the end of World War II: the famed Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber to enemy fire.

Now, more than 60 years later, a leader of the group says he has uncovered records proving the claim is not accurate.

Air Force records show that at least a few bombers escorted by the red-tailed fighters of the Tuskegee Airman were shot down by enemy planes, the man, William F. Holton, historian of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. And the group’s losses may have been much greater, Mr. Holton said.

He said his research, first reported Sunday by The Montgomery Advertiser, showed that though the group’s record was stellar, it was not perfect, as long believed.

Some surviving members of the group are offended by the findings of Mr. Holton and Daniel Haulman of the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base here, who came to the same conclusion.

A former Tuskegee Airman, Carrol Woods, of Montgomery called their claims “outrageous.”

“I think they are trying to destroy our record,” Mr. Woods, 87, told The Advertiser. “What’s the point now?”

Mr. Holton said his sole interest was in making sure the group’s history was as accurate as possible.

The president of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., retired Lt. Gen. Russell Davis of the Air Force, said he would no longer claim in speeches that the group never lost a bomber under its escort “until we can get this thing clarified.”

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first group of black fighter pilots allowed into the Army Air Corps. The name came from the east Alabama town where they trained.

With nearly 1,000 pilots and as many as 19,000 support personnel, including mechanics and nurses, the group was credited with shooting down more than 100 enemy aircraft and, for years, with never losing an American bomber under escort.

Mr. Holton, who has been historian of the association for about a decade, said he began leafing through old mission reports after hearing a veteran complain that the Tuskegee Airmen really did lose some bombers despite.

Mr. Haulman said the group’s combat mission reports clearly showed that American bombers were lost while being escorted by the airmen in Europe.

One mission report states that, on July 26, 1944: “One B-24 seen spiraling out of formation in T/A after attack by E/A. No chutes seen to open.” “T/A” stands for target area, “E/A” for enemy aircraft.

A second report, dated Aug. 31, 1944, praises the group commander Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. by saying he “so skillfully disposed his squadrons that in spite of the large number of enemy fighters, the bomber formation suffered only a few losses.”

A third report said that on Sept. 12, 1944: “10 Me-109s attacked the rear of the bomber formation from below and left one B-17 burning, with 6 chutes seen to open.”

Mr. Holton suspects that claims about the group never losing a plane resulted from something that happened in May 1945.

In a letter commending General Davis, Col. Buck Taylor mentioned that the group had the distinction of never losing a bomber, Mr. Holton said. A military public relations representative included the claim in General Davis’s official biography, he said, and General Davis later put it in his autobiography.

Mr. Holton said that though the reports documented a few bomber losses, far more could actually have been lost. The only way to determine the group’s true record is to scour reports of bomber groups that were escorted by the Airmen’s fighters.