Historians question record of Tuskegee Airmen

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Jan 11, 2007 by Shilpa Banerji

MONTGOMERY, Ala.

Two historians are disputing the claim that America's first Black fighter pilots never lost a bomber to enemy fire during World War II.

U.S. Air Force records show that at least a few bombers escorted by the red-tailed fighters of the Tuskegee Airmen were shot down by enemy planes, according to William E Holton, a historian of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., and Dr. Daniel Haulman, a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Haulman says the group's combat mission reports clearly show that U.S. bombers were lost while being escorted by Tuskegee Airmen in Europe. One mission report, dated Aug. 31, 1944, praises group commander General 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."

Another report on Sept. 12, 1944, says: "Ten Me-109s attacked the rear of the bomber formation from below and left one B-17 burning, with 6 chutes seen to open."

Holton told the Montgomery Advertiser that "well-meaning and highly placed speakers have beguiled audiences with the phrase 'the Tuskegee Airmen flew 200 bomber escort missions without losing a single bomber to enemy aircraft gunfire.'"

Dr. Alan Gropman, a professor at the National Defense University and a decorated Air Force veteran, says the historians have "not done enough homework."

"Right now anyone who is disputing [the airmen's record] is wrong," he told Diverse. "The Tuskegee Airmen were damn good at what they did."

Since the Advertiser ran the story about the historians' claims, a bomber pilot from World War II told The Associated Press that his B-24 bomber had been shot down while being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen. The pilot, Warren Ludlum, made it clear he had the greatest respect for the Airmen and liked being escorted by them because they aggressively defended the planes they escorted.

Gropman, who has flown in more than 600 combat missions, says it is important to find out where Ludlum's bomber got hit and who was escorting him at the time.

Meanwhile, the president of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Russell Davis, says he will no longer say in speeches that the group never lost a bomber under its escort.

"I'm going to drop [it] until we can get this thing clarified" he says. "We've got some homework to do, obviously."

According to Haulman's aerial victory report, 72 Tuskegee Airmen shot down 109 enemy aircraft, including the best of the German fighters.

"Rarely did they lose a bomber, and then it was usually to enemy anti-aircraft artillery rather than enemy airplanes," says Haulman. "The Tuskegee Airmen proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that African-Americans were capable of flying the best of the Allied fighters to victory against the best of the enemy fighters. They earned an indelible place in the history not only of their service, but also in the history of their country and of the world."