2007-01-29 10:02:59 · 5 answers · asked by darrin c 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
not very many details, but.....
the tuskegee were the 1st all-black squadron in ww2 that flew p-51 mustang's. they were assigned to escort b-17's on bombing runs to and from germany. bombers that had the tuskegee's as escort didnt get lost to me-109's or fw-190's, they were lost from 88mm flak guns.
2007-01-29 11:00:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They were the black (african american) squadron of fighters in world war II.
At the outset of the war, people thought that black people would not even be capable of flying a plane. They were forced to tuskegee airfield (despite the availability of billets on nearby "white" airfields) for training. They quickly learned to fly and dogfight... though they were still unproven in combat.
After receiving orders, they were used for mostly menial tasks for a good part of a year. They were then empoyed in an escort mission where they made first combat contact with enemy fighters. Though not as good as they would eventually be, this showed that the black pilots were definately effective in combat as their white counterparts. After this, the Tuskegee Airmen got picked up for more combat missions and began picking up ace pilot slots as a common routine. Their policy of never abandoning a wounded aircraft earned them the love of bomber pilots in units accross all of Europe, since other units often abandoned wounded and slowed bombers. All in all, the Tuskegee Airmen underwent two upgrades to their Aircraft (the most famous being to the P-51) and secured a better combat record than almost any (if not all) other combat pilot unit during the war.
Their work went a long way towards securing equal rights for all men in the military (women's rights had yet to hit the military at this point) and shortly after the war the Air Combat units began to become integrated, white pilots flying side by side with their now almost legendary black counterparts, the Tuskegee Airmen.
2007-01-29 11:00:25 · answer #2 · answered by promethius9594 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm sure people have questions about them,some even have answers.
2007-01-29 10:10:01 · answer #3 · answered by b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure. What race were they?
2007-01-29 10:10:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What are your questions ?
2007-01-29 10:08:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋