What purpose is served by tarnishing our heroes...?
- Thread starter illdog
- Start date
The article below is the actual story contained
in the link posted by Illdog; I posted it because
links die and threads on this board tend to outlast
the links. QueEx
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<font size="5"><center>Historian tallies Tuskegee Airmen's losses</font size></center>
By Lisa Horn
Montgomery Advertiser
March 31, 2007
An Air Force historian’s report disputes the long-held legend that the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber they escorted during World War II, and disputes it with the exact number of planes that were lost.
Dr. Daniel Haulman, historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base, has issued a report that 25 bombers escorted by the famed black aviators were downed by enemy fire. Two other aircraft were lost to a combination of enemy anti-aircraft artillery and enemy aircraft fire, according to witness testimony in Haulman’s report.
The report’s release comes in the same week as one of the group’s greatest honors. President George W. Bush awarded the surviving airmen and ground crew members the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington on Thursday.
Studying after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups as well as missing air crew records, Haulman was able to substantiate what he and William Holton, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. national historian, had suspected in a report released last year.
Haulman, who stumbled upon the numbers when he began research on the Tuskegee Airmen’s aerial victory credits two years ago, said that he came across the information by accident.
“It looked like the documents were contradicting the statement,” Haulman said. “And the documents were written by the Tuskegee Airmen themselves.”
Both he and Holton studied the same records.
“All of these records have been here all along,” Haulman said. “It was just a matter of putting them together.”
Through his research, Haulman discovered that the earliest mention of the claim appeared in a March 24, 1945, article in the black newspaper, Chicago Defender, entitled “332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without Loss.”
The only source listed was “with the 15th Air Force, Italy.”
“In fact, on the very day the claim was published, more bombers under 332nd Fighter Group escort were shot down,” Haulman wrote.
The historian also discovered that former airman Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. told historian Al Gropman during a 1990s interview that he was unsure whether the Tuskegee Airmen had lost a bomber.
Holton, who established the Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Documentation Project at Howard University in the mid-1990s, said the fact bombers were lost in no way tarnishes the Tuskegee Airmen’s record.
Holton, who lives in Columbia, Md., said the losses were considered well within acceptable limits to knock out their often heavily defended targets.
“It’s impossible not to lose bombers,” he said.
Former Tuskegee Airman Herbert E. Carter, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, did not feel qualified to comment on the report.
“(There are) too many technicalities to be accurate or positive. Either side could be right or could be wrong,” said Carter, who has lived in Tuskegee since 1965. “I don’t have any data or documents to agree or disagree.”
Dr. Richard Bailey, an Alabama historian, felt that the report was credible.
“I think it’s an excellent report, well-researched, well-reported,” he said. “One of the things I like about the report is (Haulman) makes every attempt to be even-handed.”
“Nothing that can be said about these guys will take away any of their achievement. The luster is still there.”
Holton agreed.
“Our outreach is always to younger people,” he said. “If we’re going to get them in to support the legacy that was built up during the war, that legacy should be perpetuated by truthful methods, rather than by believing in myths.”
in the link posted by Illdog; I posted it because
links die and threads on this board tend to outlast
the links. QueEx
__________________________________________
<font size="5"><center>Historian tallies Tuskegee Airmen's losses</font size></center>
By Lisa Horn
Montgomery Advertiser
March 31, 2007
An Air Force historian’s report disputes the long-held legend that the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber they escorted during World War II, and disputes it with the exact number of planes that were lost.
Dr. Daniel Haulman, historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base, has issued a report that 25 bombers escorted by the famed black aviators were downed by enemy fire. Two other aircraft were lost to a combination of enemy anti-aircraft artillery and enemy aircraft fire, according to witness testimony in Haulman’s report.
The report’s release comes in the same week as one of the group’s greatest honors. President George W. Bush awarded the surviving airmen and ground crew members the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington on Thursday.
Studying after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups as well as missing air crew records, Haulman was able to substantiate what he and William Holton, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. national historian, had suspected in a report released last year.
Haulman, who stumbled upon the numbers when he began research on the Tuskegee Airmen’s aerial victory credits two years ago, said that he came across the information by accident.
“It looked like the documents were contradicting the statement,” Haulman said. “And the documents were written by the Tuskegee Airmen themselves.”
Both he and Holton studied the same records.
“All of these records have been here all along,” Haulman said. “It was just a matter of putting them together.”
Through his research, Haulman discovered that the earliest mention of the claim appeared in a March 24, 1945, article in the black newspaper, Chicago Defender, entitled “332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without Loss.”
The only source listed was “with the 15th Air Force, Italy.”
“In fact, on the very day the claim was published, more bombers under 332nd Fighter Group escort were shot down,” Haulman wrote.
The historian also discovered that former airman Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. told historian Al Gropman during a 1990s interview that he was unsure whether the Tuskegee Airmen had lost a bomber.
Holton, who established the Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Documentation Project at Howard University in the mid-1990s, said the fact bombers were lost in no way tarnishes the Tuskegee Airmen’s record.
Holton, who lives in Columbia, Md., said the losses were considered well within acceptable limits to knock out their often heavily defended targets.
“It’s impossible not to lose bombers,” he said.
Former Tuskegee Airman Herbert E. Carter, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, did not feel qualified to comment on the report.
“(There are) too many technicalities to be accurate or positive. Either side could be right or could be wrong,” said Carter, who has lived in Tuskegee since 1965. “I don’t have any data or documents to agree or disagree.”
Dr. Richard Bailey, an Alabama historian, felt that the report was credible.
“I think it’s an excellent report, well-researched, well-reported,” he said. “One of the things I like about the report is (Haulman) makes every attempt to be even-handed.”
“Nothing that can be said about these guys will take away any of their achievement. The luster is still there.”
Holton agreed.
“Our outreach is always to younger people,” he said. “If we’re going to get them in to support the legacy that was built up during the war, that legacy should be perpetuated by truthful methods, rather than by believing in myths.”
Related thread:
Tuskegee Airmen Suit Up, Head to Iraq
http://198.65.131.81/board/showthread.php?t=66947
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