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332nd Fighter Group


Aviation Art Prints Countries US Squadron Index 100th Bomb Group to 332nd Fighter Group 332nd Fighter Group

[UP] - 100th Bomb Group - 103rd Pursuit Sqn - 10th Recce Group - 117th TRW - 11th Aero Squadron - 125th Fighter Wing - 160th SOAR - 16th Bomb Squadron - 16th Fighter Squadron - 174th Assault Helicopter Company - 18th Fighter Group - 19th Bomb Group - 1st Aero Squadron USAS - 20th Fighter Group - 22nd Bomb Group - 23rd Fighter Group - 303rd Bomb Group - 317th Fighter Squadron - 31st Fighter Group - 31st Fighter Wing - 323rd Bomb Squadron - 325th Bomb Squadron - 325th Fighter Group - 328th Fighter Squadron - 332nd Fighter Group


332nd Fighter Group
Country : US



332nd Fighter Group Aviation Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings
Aviation Art

Red Tail Escort by Richard Taylor.


Red Tail Escort by Richard Taylor.
3 of 4 editions available.
All 4 editions feature up to 6 additional signatures.
£145.00 - £625.00

A Perfect Record by Stan Stokes.


A Perfect Record by Stan Stokes.
5 editions.
2 of the 5 editions feature an additional signature.
£35.00 - £294.00

Fighting Red Tails by Robert Taylor.


Fighting Red Tails by Robert Taylor.
2 editions.
Both editions feature up to 5 additional signatures.
£215.00 - £325.00


The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber by Clyde Heron.

The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber by Clyde Heron.
This single edition is sold out.



Text for the above items :

Red Tail Escort by Richard Taylor.

With the words of his Group CO ringing in his ears, a pilot of the 332nd Fighter Group returns to protect a crippled American B17 bomber after downing two Me109s in quick succession. Agonisingly, two more enemy fighters were left to escape but the pilot knew that under the strict leadership of Colonel Benjamin O Davis, his mission, and that if the other all-black pilots of the 332nd, was solely to protect the bombers. That iron discipline was to earn this famous unit the respect and admiration of hundreds of bomber crews, and to create a legend. Despite lingering racial prejudice and some opposition within the Air Force, President Roosevelt had ordered the USAAF to form an all-black fighter pilot unit, its crews to be trained at Tuskegee in Alabama. To the surprise of their critics, the Tuskegee Airmen were to prove their detractors spectacularly wrong from the first day they went into action in Italy in May 1943. Flying first with the Twelfth Air Force, then the Fifteenth, the four squadrons of the 332nd completed over 15,000 combat sorties, destroyed over 250 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and on the ground, 950 railway trucks and locomotives, and even sunk a destroyer by machine gun fire! The Group was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, their pilots decorated with over 1000 medals for gallantry. But above all, with the spinners and tails of their P-51 Mustangs brightly painted red, the Red Tails as they were affectionately known, became the only US Fighter Group that never lost a bomber in their care. The Tuskegee Red Tail pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group are a more than welcome sight as they close in to escort home a damaged B17 Fortress of the 483rd Bomb Group. Seen high over the Italian Alps during the summer of 1944 this poignant scene conveys precisely the story of the legendary Red Tails.


A Perfect Record by Stan Stokes.

At the time of World War II there was still a great deal of prejudice in America, and this extended to all the branches of the military. Although black soldiers and seaman fought with dignity and bravery during WW I, many thought that blacks were incapable of handling difficult assignments. It was therefore with great uncertainty and trepidation that the Army Air Corps authorized the training of black pilots in 1941. The Air Corps proposed that a segregated training program be established. Judge William Hastie, Dean of the Howard University Law School, who was serving as a Civilian Assistant for Negro Affairs to the Secretary of War, protested about the segregated training, but his complaints were ignored. Hastie also proposed that the Army consider affiliating with the Tuskegee Institute which had already established a pilot training program. The Army allocated $1 million for the construction of the Tuskegee Army Air Field. The men sent to Tuskegee had to pass rigorous physical tests and pass nine weeks of ground school. They then received their basic flight instruction from instructors with the Civilian Instructor Corps. Those who passed moved on to more sophisticated military training for another seventy hours of flight time. A third phase of advanced training followed after which pilot cadets received their wings and were appointed to an initial rank of either 2nd Lieutenant or Flight Officer. Only about 60% of the cadets made it through the program, and many were killed or injured in flying accidents during training. Captain Noel Parish who oversaw much of the training at Tuskegee was a vocal supporter of the men under his command. Despite their ability to successfully handle the Air Corps training program, considerable hostility was still evident and the Army was reluctant to assign Tuskegee graduates to combat units. This created a difficult morale problem for those who had earned their wings and were now anxious to see combat. Finally, in the spring of 1943, the 99th Fighter Squadron headed for North Africa. In June of 1943 the 99th finally saw combat flying P-40s. On July 2 Lt. Charles Hall became the first black aviator to record an aerial victory in WW II. The 99th played an important role in preparing for the invasion of Sicily. The 332nd Fighter Group (under the command of then Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.) consisting of the 100th, 301st, and 302nd fighter squadrons entered combat in Italy flying P-39s in early 1944. By mid-1944 the Group was receiving P-47s, but in another about face the Air Corps quickly substituted P-51s. At this time the 99th FS was folded into the 332nd FG. From mid-1944 until the end of the War in Europe the Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd FG flew an incredible number of missions. They generally escorted Fifteenth Air Force bombers on their attacks into Germany from bases in Italy. The red-tailed fighters of the 332nd FG had the distinction of having a perfect record - losing no escorted bombers to enemy fighter attack during the entire War. In Stan Stokes painting, the P-51 piloted by Charles E. McGee, who would also go on to fly combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam, is depicted over a Czech airfield on August 24, 1944. On this mission McGee would down an Fw-190.


Fighting Red Tails by Robert Taylor.

With their distinctive red tails, P-51 Mustangs of the 332nd Fighter Group - the famed Tuskegee Airmen, climb to operational height as B17 Fortresses from the 483rd Bomb Group manoeuvre into formation at the start of another long and dangerous mission over Germany, Oct 1944. A welcome sight for the Fortress crews, the renowned all-black Tuskegee pilots were credited for never losing an escorted bomber to enemy aircraft. For the first time ever Robert pays tribute to the Tuskegee Fighter Pilots in this stunning portrait of one of the most famous fighter units of WWII.


The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber by Clyde Heron.

A harbinger of Adolf Hitlers grand scheme came on March 1, 1938, when Nazi troops moved into the Rhineland, but it hardly raised an eyebrow in the international circles. His treachery did not rear its ugly head again for nearly two years. The worlds perception of the little corporal was radically changed when his blitzkrieg enveloped Austria and rolled through Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway and the Netherlands. Then on May 28, 1940, Belgium fell, exposing France to the onslaught. Although President Franklin Roosevelt had long realized that the United States entrance into the war was inevitable, it took the invasion of France to awaken the American public to the horrors of this madmans actions. Roosevelt then found overwhelming public support for his appeal for military preparedness. When the massive war mobilization program began, African-Americans were overlooked. The attitudes and apathy of the Federal Government and military officials caused African-American leaders and their white supporters to put pressure on Roosevelt to uphold the Constitution that proclaimed equal treatment for all Americans. This would not only provide personal dignity to all citizens, it would also utilize the valuable human resource. On March 21, 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated, and four months later work began on the construction of Tuskegee Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. Thus began what the reluctant War Department called the Experiment. Although designed to fail, its success made possible the emergence of the pioneers of African-American aviation. A total of 992 African-American pilots graduated at Tuskegee Institute, and 450 of these were sent overseas to open a new chapter in the annals of combat aviation. One of those who garnered an impressive record in aerial combat is Captain Lee A Archer (later Colonel) who flew with the 332nd Fighter Group. The morning of July 18, 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group took off to escort bombers of the 5th to Memmingen airdrome. The group met with a formation of ME-109s and FW-190s as they approached Udine and Treviso areas. The group shot down 11 enemy planes and damaged another. Archer downed one of the ME-109s. July 20, while escorting B-24s of the 47th Heavy Bombardment Group to Friedrichshafen, the 332nd was challenged by a squadron of ME-109s. Archer fell in behind one, with LT Charles Bussey on his wing. They chased the enemy plane until it crashed into the side of a mountain after being hit by a volley from Archers guns. Nine enemy aircraft were shot down and 26 were detroyed on the ground during an attack on Blechhammer by the 332nd on October 12, 1944. Archer was the top scorer with three victories. Archer was one of 75 Tuskegee airmen to record one or more victories over Hitlers finest. Collectively, these aviators in their distinctive red tail planes shot down 111 enemy planes. Regrettably, 66 tuskegee airmen paid the supreme price as their group earned the accolade that no other group could claim. The Red Tails Never Lost a Bomber.



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