Location: London/Durham
Posts: 6,883
I'm Lawrence.
Location: Navan
Posts: 378
I'm Jo.
Thanks, Neil. I had a read through. As far as I can tell the first destruction of an ME262 by Allied fighter action seems to have taken place in August 1944. Two fighters from the 78th FG, not the 332nd FG, were credited with the kill.
The 'Red Tails' have accrued a few myths over time. One was that no US bomber was lost while the 332nd were on escort duty. This appears to have been a claim writen by an African American journalist working for the African American Chicago Defender during 1945. The claim was repeated since the end of the war and was used in the advertising for film called The Tuskagee Airmen. It was only when the Tuskagee veterans appointed another veteran of WW2 to be their offcial historian that the claim was investigated. Using the 332's own combat reports the claim was found to be groundless. The historian was an African American, William Holton, and his book of the 332nd FG was greeted with disbelief and emotional opposition by the surviving veterans. The vet's association then asked another veteran, one of their own, a former Tusagee airman called William Holloman to investigate Holton's claim that the never-lost-a-bomber was untrue. Holloman concurred with Holton's findings. Matching the 332 combat reprts with the MACRs [Missing Air crew Reports] of bombardment groups escorted by the 332nd proved that the ciaim was indeed untrue. It seems that the very idea that the record should be examined at all was though racist, even though it was some of the veternas of the 332nd who asked other African American veterans to undertake the verificatory work.
What a re-examination did show was thatt he numbers of bombers lost while the 332nd was assigned as fighter escort was below average. Not quite as glamourous as 'never lost a bomber', but a great achievement and a genuine testament to the courage and professionalism of the 332nd FG.
Properly speaking The Tuskagee Airmen also included the 477th Bombardment Group USAAF, an outfit so bedevilled by the racsim of certain commanders that many of its officers mutinied and the group never saw combat. The story of how badly the 477th was treated may be found here: http://ecctai.org/tuskegee-477th-bombardment-group
Apologies for coming late to the party, I've only just seen this series of posts.
You've hit a nerve with me on this subject.
Reading what a few of you say strikes a chord with me as I was an Air Cadet in the mid 70's and spent much of my youth drooling over all these planes and some of the bases too.
Our squadron CO (who was young at the time flew Lancasters just as WWII was coming to an end): his son was a Lightening pilot. One of his anecdotes, and I don't know if it was true, was that they only did a limited tour on Lightenings of something like 6 months - otherwise they began to loose their hearing !
One summer camp was spent at Waddington and happened to be when they decided to run a TACEVAL. I remember being in the middle of the airfield when all the Vulcan squadrons were scrambled. It was unbelievable !
At the time I was impressed, but now with hindsight - I can't believe how lucky I was.
In those days I had a Zenit B and shot a lot of transperancy (slides). Most were in colour but I have one set in B&W that I shot at RAF Finningley in 1977. As ATC we were allowed to the dress rehearsal for the Queens Silver Jubilee Air show.
I should dig them out and get them scanned as they'd be far easier to see than having to get a projector & screen out.
Unfortunately I could bore you all shit-less but better leave those facts/stories for another time.
Alex
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Location: Navan
Posts: 378
I'm Jo.
Location: Navan
Posts: 378
I'm Jo.
For what it is worth, here's the opinion of a 262 pilot:
'...the Messerschmitt Me262's most dangerous opponent was the British Hawker Tempest - extremly fast at low altitudes, highly manouverable and heavily armed.'
[Hubert Lange of 1/KG51 - quoted on 'The Hawker Tempest Page'].
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Location: Navan
Posts: 378
I'm Jo.
Aye, the Tiffy was mostly (3,000+) produced at Brockworth/Hucclecote 5 miles from me. You wouldn't know it as you pass by nowadays. Nothing, not even a measly plaque. The Typhoon's finest hour seems to have been the halting of the German counterattack at Mortain in 1944:
"The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force... The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory."[Eisenhower]
[...or, perhaps, the attack on the HQ of the 15th German Army in October 1944 by 146 Typhoon Wing resulting in the deaths of 2 generals and 70 other staff officers, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the 15th and thus aiding its defeat at the hands of the advancing Canadians].
Location: London/Durham
Posts: 6,883
I'm Lawrence.
Funnily enough I was watching this video about the rocket attack on the HQ of Panzergruppe West a few months earlier on the treadmill at the gym yesterday:
https://youtu.be/c844En8XvC4
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