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America’s Black Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen

Khalid Elhassan April 4, 2025 16 min

5. Contra Racist Predictions of Unsuitability, the Tuskegee Airmen Exceeded the Norms of Peer Fighter Groups

Tuskegee - A P-51D of the 332nd Fighter Group, with its distinctive red tail, that flew in Italy in 1944 — A P-51D of the 332nd Fighter Group, with its distinctive red tail, that flew in Italy in 1944. Wikiwand

The 332^nd Fighter Group earned another Distinguished Unit Citation for its exploits on the March 24^th, 1944, Berlin mission. In total, the all-black squadrons flew 1578 combat missions, including 179 bomber escort missions, and put up some pretty good statistics while they were at it. They lost bombers on only seven missions, for a total of 27 airplanes, compared to an average loss of 46 bombers for other Fifteenth Air Force P-51 fighter groups. They shot down 112 enemy airplanes, destroyed another 150 on the ground, and damaged 148 more. On ground attack runs, they destroyed 600 rail cars, plus 350 trucks and motor vehicles. At sea, they destroyed 40 boats and barges, plus a German torpedo boat.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.