Tuskegee Airmen- Lancaster, California, - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later, 99th FIGHTER Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and Italy). In June 1944, the 332nd FIGHTER Group began escorting heavy bomber missions, and in July 1944, the 99th FIGHTER Squadron was assigned to the 332nd FIGHTER Group.

The 99th Fighter Squadron was initially equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter-bomber aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group and its 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June–July 1944), and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s and later, P-51s, red, the nickname "Red Tails" was coined, 'Redtails". The bomber crews that had the all black FIGHTERS unit escorting them on missions began to call them "Redtail Angels".

Unit Achievment: The Tuskegee airmen once shot down three German jets in a single day. On March 24, 1944, a fleet of P-51 Mustangs led by Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, commander of the Tuskegee airmen, set out on the longest escort mission their crews would fly during World War II. The 43 fighters were there to help B-17 bombers run a gauntlet of over 1,600 miles into the heart of Hitler’s Germany and back. The bombers’ target, a massive Daimler-Benz tank factory in Berlin, was heavily defended by whatever forces the Luftwaffe could muster at that point in the war. The 25 aircraft protecting the plant included the battle-tested Fw 190 radial propeller fighters, the Me 163 “Komet” rocket-powered plane and the much more formidable Me 262, history’s first jetfighter and the forerunner of today’s modern fighters. While the American P-51s typically lagged behind the Me 163s and 262s, they could outmaneuver them at low speeds. The German planes also tended to run out of fuel more quickly than the Tuskegee airmen’s Mustangs. Making the most of their limited advantages, pilots Charles Brantley, Earl Lane and Roscoe Brown all shot down German jets over Berlin that day, earning the all-black 332nd Fighter Group a *Distinguished Unit Citation.* In all, the Tuskegee Airmen earned eight Purple Hearts, fourteen Bronze Stars, three Distinguished Unit Citations, and 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Correcting the Myths about the "Redtails".
(visit link)

The City Govt. members of Lancaster placed a bronze plaque honoring the sacrifices and triumphs of the WW2 fighter group called the "Redtailed Angels". These were black pilots (in a segregated Army) trained in Tuskegee Army Air Field Alabama.

Date of Dedication: 02/28/1999 Property Permission: Public Access instructions: Off public sidewalk Commemoration: Tuskegee Airmen Access times: Not listed Website for Waymark: Not listed Location of waymark: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   02/03/2014 calgriz visited it