Tuskegee Airmen
http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/legacy_of_fame/tuskegee_airmen/tuskegee_airmen_facts.aspx
ARTICLE #1
An uneasy question for the Tuskegee Airmen
The heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen is legendary, but some wonder if they really never lost a bomber. And that doesn’t sit well.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 26, 2008
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It is an enduring legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, repeated by Hollywood, presidents and by the pioneering black pilots themselves:
They never lost a bomber they escorted in air-to-air combat during World War II.
In 2004, a black Navy veteran, history buff and longtime Tuskegee fan stood before the group and uttered the unforgiveable.
He called the record a myth.
What followed was a rare dustup within the Tuskegee ranks, one that has raised questions and tempers over a fighting record that is much more than a point of pride for the Tuskegee pilots.
It’s part of American history.
At the controversy’s heart is 80-year-old Bill Holton — tenacious, long-winded, irascible and unbending.
“We shouldn’t perpetuate a myth just because it’s a myth,” said Holton, who insists documents from the era prove his case. “The Tuskegee Airmen have an outstanding record — not perfect. Now everybody is trying to hide the truth.”
Tuskegee veterans, and even some historians, are enraged by such talk and say Holton should just keep his mouth shut.
“We had a record that was pretty unique,” said Luther Smith, 87, a Tuskegee pilot from outside Philadelphia who said he never witnessed a bomber lost to German fighters during 133 missions.
“I should know,” he said. “I was there.”
Yet, one other person says Holton may be right. He confirmed three bomber losses. He isn’t happy with what he’s found.
That’s because he’s a Tuskegee pilot, too.
Research and anger
The Tuskegee airmen were pioneers, the first all-black aviation unit in American military history. They bridged a racial divide with unquestioned bravery and skill.
Historians say the airmen — called Red Tails for their plane markings — flew more than 300 missions and were disciplined, aggressive fliers, well-respected by the bomber crews they protected.
Holton, who lives in Maryland, served as the official historian of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., a group of surviving Tuskegee pilots and their supporters.
Holton isn’t an academic historian, having studied African studies, geology and geography in college. But he said his research skills are sharp.
In 1996 or 1997, Holton said, he heard a white fighter pilot complain that the Red Tails weren’t perfect — every fighter group lost bombers.
That angered Holton, who wanted to prove the man wrong. But he waited until 2003 to begin research. He felt no rush, he said, and wanted to wait for the Red Tails’ 60th anniversary in 2004.
He figured proving the record correct would make a big splash at the group’s convention in Nebraska.
But Holton said he found that World War II bomber and pilot reports showed five bombers under Tuskegee protection were shot down by German fighters.
“I expected some flak,” said Holton, who presented the information at the convention. “I just didn’t expect the magnitude.”
Ron Brewington, 61, a broadcast journalist who has long been fascinated by the Red Tails and serves as the group’s spokesman, said Holton was told to keep the news to himself until it could be verified.
He said Holton disobeyed.
“You have to understand that the record keeping in World War II wasn’t as good as it is today,” said Brewington, who said the accuracy of Holton’s assertion is still unverified. “So a lot of mistakes were made.”
Two years later, Holton said, reporters started calling him. Brewington thinks Holton is the one who did the calling.
Stories appeared.
Soon, Daniel Haulman, a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency in Montgomery, Ala., confirmed Holton’s results and said the Red Tails may have lost up to 25 bombers.
“It’s about as clear as it can be,” Haulman said.
The reaction from the Tuskegee community was immediate outrage. Many Red Tail pilots condemned Holton, who said the losses didn’t tarnish the Tuskegee record. He said it was still excellent, maybe the best of any fighter group in the war.
But Alan Gropman, a white professor at the National Defense University in Washington who has extensively researched the Red Tails, said what most angered the pilots was the implication they had lied about their record.
“That’s inconceivable to me,” Gropman said.
Gropman said Holton is guilty of sloppy research and assigned losses to the Tuskegee pilots for bombers escorted by white fliers.
“I’ve read over 200 mission reports,” Gropman said. “There are no bombers lost to fighters. It’s not as cut and dry as Holton and some others think.”
Bill Holloman, 83, who taught black studies at the University of Washington, is the Tuskegee airman who now heads the group’s history team. He wanted to set the record straight.
He said much of Holton’s research is wrong. But Holloman said a review of records — he spent $3,000 of his own money investigating — did confirm lost bombers.
“Some are going to get mad at me for telling you,” Holloman said. “We’ve had people who listened to the myth for so long they don’t want to give it up.”
But to Holloman, the Tuskegee story is about pilots who rose above adversity and discrimination and opened a door once closed to black America — not about whether their record is perfect.
“Let’s face it,” said Charles Hardy, 82, a Tuskegee Airman living in Sarasota, “whether (Holton’s) right or wrong, we had one hell of a record any way you look at it.”
About the Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen flew with distinction during World War II. They were pioneers in the segregated Army Air Corps, battling prejudice within the military’s own ranks even to be allowed to fly. About 1,000 black pilots trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Station in Alabama during the war. Today, about 129 pilots are still alive. They were nicknamed the “Red-Tail Angels” or just “Red Tails,” both for their tail markings and for their excellent record protecting bombers. They flew several fighters, including the P-51 Mustang, mostly out of bases in Italy.
ARTICLE #2 Historians dispute Tuskegee Airmen’s perfect record
Updated 12/10/2006 9:50 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge U.S. Army Signal Corps file
About 1,000 black pilots were trained to fly and maintain combat airplanes at the Tuskegee airbase during World War II.
By Alvin Benn Montgomery Advertiser
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The hallmark of the Tuskegee Airmen success story has been that America’s first black fighter pilots never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft during World War II escort missions. Two historians say that’s a myth.
Daniel Haulman of Montgomery and William Holton of Columbia, Md., have released documents showing several U.S. bombers were downed by German planes during some Tuskegee Airmen protective flights.
The exact number is unclear, the historians said. Haulman, who is white, works for the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base. Holton, who is black, is the national historian of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., which was formed to promote and honor the fabled fighter pilots.
“Even if they lost three or four bombers, it would still be minuscule compared to the losses incurred by white pilots who also escorted bombers,” said Alan Gropman, an author who teaches at the National Defense University in Washington.
The revelations by Haulman and Holton have had some impact. The president of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. has altered his position a bit.
“I’m going to drop (references to having no losses) until we can get this thing clarified,” retired Air Force lieutenant general Russell Davis said last week. He said he has questions about whether the downing of bombers might have happened after the Airmen were relieved by other squadrons. He indicated that researchers may go to Montgomery to look into escort missions.
Former Tuskegee airman Carrol Woods of Montgomery, who flew more than 100 missions and spent seven months in a POW camp after being shot down in 1944, is upset by the historians’ contentions.
“I think they are trying to destroy our record,” said Woods, 87. “What’s the point now?”
Holton and Haulman said what they have tried to do is simply “set the record straight.”
Holton said he prepared his findings “because the same records that revealed the truth after tedious hours of research will at some future date reveal the same information to a researcher who might use it to impugn the integrity of our national organization.”
He said he has known about “the true facts” for several years but did not publicly discuss it in deference to former general Benjamin Davis, who led the Tuskegee Airmen. Davis, who died four years ago at age 89, may have unwittingly created the “myth” in his autobiography, Haulman said.
He said any statement that the black pilots did not lose any bombers was “not one that the Tuskegee Airmen made up, but one that probably originated in a letter of commendation.”
Posted 12/10/2006 7:38 PM ET
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