Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Los Angeles Times
April 1, 2007 Alabama
By Times Wire Reports
At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft, according to a new Air Force report.
The report contradicts the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to fire from enemy aircraft. But historian William Holton said the discovery of lost bombers doesn't tarnish the unit's record. "It's impossible not to lose bombers," said Holton, national historian for Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
The report was based on after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups, as well as witness testimony and records on missing air crew members, said Daniel Haulman, a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.
The tally includes only cases where planes were shot down by enemy aircraft, Haulman said.
April 1, 2007 Alabama
By Times Wire Reports
At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft, according to a new Air Force report.
The report contradicts the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to fire from enemy aircraft. But historian William Holton said the discovery of lost bombers doesn't tarnish the unit's record. "It's impossible not to lose bombers," said Holton, national historian for Tuskegee Airmen Inc.
The report was based on after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups, as well as witness testimony and records on missing air crew members, said Daniel Haulman, a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.
The tally includes only cases where planes were shot down by enemy aircraft, Haulman said.