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The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber by Clyde Heron.
A harbinger of Adolf Hitlers grand scheme came on March 1, 1938, when Nazi troops moved into the Rhineland, but it hardly raised an eyebrow in the international circles. His treachery did not rear its ugly head again for nearly two years. The worlds perception of the little corporal was radically changed when his blitzkrieg enveloped Austria and rolled through Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway and the Netherlands. Then on May 28, 1940, Belgium fell, exposing France to the onslaught. Although President Franklin Roosevelt had long realized that the United States entrance into the war was inevitable, it took the invasion of France to awaken the American public to the horrors of this madmans actions. Roosevelt then found overwhelming public support for his appeal for military preparedness. When the massive war mobilization program began, African-Americans were overlooked. The attitudes and apathy of the Federal Government and military officials caused African-American leaders and their white supporters to put pressure on Roosevelt to uphold the Constitution that proclaimed equal treatment for all Americans. This would not only provide personal dignity to all citizens, it would also utilize the valuable human resource. On March 21, 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated, and four months later work began on the construction of Tuskegee Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. Thus began what the reluctant War Department called the Experiment. Although designed to fail, its success made possible the emergence of the pioneers of African-American aviation. A total of 992 African-American pilots graduated at Tuskegee Institute, and 450 of these were sent overseas to open a new chapter in the annals of combat aviation. One of those who garnered an impressive record in aerial combat is Captain Lee A Archer (later Colonel) who flew with the 332nd Fighter Group. The morning of July 18, 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group took off to escort bombers of the 5th to Memmingen airdrome. The group met with a formation of ME-109s and FW-190s as they approached Udine and Treviso areas. The group shot down 11 enemy planes and damaged another. Archer downed one of the ME-109s. July 20, while escorting B-24s of the 47th Heavy Bombardment Group to Friedrichshafen, the 332nd was challenged by a squadron of ME-109s. Archer fell in behind one, with LT Charles Bussey on his wing. They chased the enemy plane until it crashed into the side of a mountain after being hit by a volley from Archers guns. Nine enemy aircraft were shot down and 26 were detroyed on the ground during an attack on Blechhammer by the 332nd on October 12, 1944. Archer was the top scorer with three victories. Archer was one of 75 Tuskegee airmen to record one or more victories over Hitlers finest. Collectively, these aviators in their distinctive red tail planes shot down 111 enemy planes. Regrettably, 66 tuskegee airmen paid the supreme price as their group earned the accolade that no other group could claim. The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber. |
