Red-tailed Mustangs were true friends of the 332nd Fighter Group
Christmas is a special day for worship, but black pilots from Alabama had something else to do 73 years ago—destroying part of Hitler’s war machine.
Tuskegee Airmen spent that day in 1944 escorting bombers into enemy territory where a large oil refinery would soon be ashes.
Aware of Hitler’s racial superiority claims, the Tuskegee pilots must have taken great pleasure helping to wipe out the plant.
Other facilities that also manufactured and processed oil used in war production would eventually be eliminated in the days that followed.
What made the missions successful was support for the bombers by the 332nd Fighter Group — black pilots who kept tabs on possible enemy aircraft locations as well as anti-aircraft placements.
German pilots were good and they might have been flying above American bomber formations, so that possibility kept U.S. bomber crews on alert.
No enemy aircraft were confronted near the bombers that Christmas day but German planes were seen at a distance and that was close enough.
One Tuskegee pilot was last seen bailing out of his crippled plane during a reconnaissance flight on Dec. 23 of that year. His plane appeared to have had engine problems. His body was not found.
Other American pilots were killed during the Christmas period, but 180 white pilots and crew members became part of an experience they never forgot.
They didn’t know it at the time, but they were about to become part of a historic rendezvous — black and white pilots enjoying each other’s company a long way from their home bases of operation.
Such a meeting would likely have been next to impossible in the segregated South at the time, but the Tuskegee pilots were more interested in aviation chatter than protests.
The merged meeting of combat pilots and crews involved talk about flight formations, new tactics and other interesting topics at a base in Ramitelli, Italy. It wasn’t long before they all had become fast friends.
Their arrival at Ramitelli was not caused by enemy ground fire or German fighters. Bad weather was the reason and the landing site belonged to the Tuskegee pilots.
A military publication familiar with the event that had just taken place described the unusual gathering as “a story of hospitality far beyond expectations.”
“For five days, we were treated like kings,” said a white pilot who let it be known it was much to his liking.
Their hosts were members of a black fighter group and the article indicated that the reception was “wonderful” throughout the five-day period.
Reciprocal handshakes and back pats had begun a special friendship. What came next was even better. The black hosts had, in effect, rolled out a figurative red carpet to welcome their soon-to-be white friends — pilots and crewmen with much in common.
A quartermaster unit was contacted with a request for food and blankets and it wasn’t long before the visiting pilots had good food and warmth.
It got better as the hours passed with Tuskegee pilots insisting on serving American bomber crews “breakfast in bed,” along with cold beer, PX rations (their own) Cokes, writing paper and whiskey,” according to the article.
Eventually, it was time for the white pilots and crew members to leave, but something special awaited them before they took off.
Parting gifts included collector item letters which read: “You have been the guests of the 332nd All-Negro Fighter Group … we hope that our facilities, such as they are, were adequate to make your stay a pleasant one and we extend to you hearty wishes for a happy new year and many happy landings.”
The writer couldn’t resist inserting a plug for the Tuskegee Airmen since the unit went out of its way to welcome appreciative white pilots and crews.
“Remember,” he wrote: “When you are up there and see the red-tailed Mustangs in the sky, they are our friends of the 332nd.”
The reference was to striking red paint on the tails of Tuskegee aircraft. When they were detected, American bomber crews knew they were in safe hands.
It got to the point that white bomber pilots anxiously awaited their escorts, hoping they would be flown by Tuskegee Airmen.
Daniel Haulman, a civilian historian working at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, has chronicled events linked to the Tuskegee Airmen for much of his long career.
Haulman, chief of organizational histories for the Air Force Historical Research Agency, has written nine books and seems to always be working on his next project.
His latest book is: “The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology: A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and other Black Pilots of World War II.”
Published by NewSouth Books in Montgomery, it focuses on accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen, especially successes in aerial combat.
In addition to his responsibilities at Maxwell, Haulman has been kept busy writing books and answering questions about the Tuskegee Airmen.
He has often been asked how Tuskegee, Alabama, was chosen as the site where black pilot training was established.
Haulman said Tuskegee Institute, as it was known before it became Tuskegee University, had already been training black civilian pilots and the climate was better than the North for flying.
Asked how the first black pilots in the U.S. military got started, Haulman said it evolved from President Roosevelt’s promise to allow blacks to enter the program, but on the condition that they would be trained “on a segregated basis.”
Asked how successful the 99th Fighter Squadron had been in missions over Anzio, Italy, in January 1944, Haulman said during two days of intense operations “it shot down more enemy planes than the other P-40 squadrons in the area.”
Haulman’s devotion to the Tuskegee Airmen and their military accomplishments has led him to become well known across America.
One of the reasons was his drive to “correct myths and misconceptions” about unfair depictions of black pilots. That did not endear him at first to some airmen, especially those with combat experiences.
He didn’t receive a rousing ovation at his first national meeting of Tuskegee Airmen, but he wasn’t looking for one and took the silence he received in stride.
As the years went by, however, his efforts to portray the Tuskegee Airmen as dedicated men who had served their country well in battle changed that perception.
“The biggest misconception about the Airmen was that they were inferior to white pilots doing the same thing during the war,” Haulman said. “Well, nothing could have been further from the truth.”
Years of writing about the Tuskegee Airmen had convinced him beyond any question that “they proved they could fly as well as any white fighter pilots."
When Haulman attended his next national meeting of the group, the reception was positive and the appreciative applause he received at his second introduction is something he still remembers with pride.