Over the course of four years the Tuskegee airmen flew over 1500 missions, and had countless victories. These victories were recognized publicly back home. Some people weren't interested in their victories. People claimed blacks shouldn’t win anything. The Tuskegee Airmen just kept going forward and winning aerial battles. One of the most famous battles was the Battle of Berlin.
Some of the main missions the Tuskegee Airmen went on were bomber escorts. The Germans had a plan to draw out the fighters from the bombers, then send an another wave of fighters to attack the vulnerable bombers. The Tuskegee Airmen didn’t fall for the trick and stuck with the bombers. Due to these actions of the Red Tails, they lost barely any bombers when they escorted them. The total number of bombers they lost is 27.
Since the Tuskegee Airmen fought during Civil Rights times, there was excessive hate toward them. Many people didn’t want blacks in the Military force. So when the Tuskegee Airmen formed some people went ballistic. Some members of the Tuskegee Airmen received death threat about joining. That didn't stop them from joining. About 1000 airmen were trained and 450 pilots flew over 1500 missions. The Tuskegee Airmen was an experiment that was supposed to go wrong, but it didn't they fought through the hard times and made it. They proved everyone wrong. They eventually became one of the most honored squadron of WWII. The squadron had members winning medals and ribbons left and right. Some won the Silver Star, Flying Crosses, and Legion Of Merits. Hard work comes with an award.
Over the course of the war the Tuskegee Airmen downed 112 enemy aircrafts. They were the first Americans to shoot down a German Messerschmitt ME 262 jet plane. This was a big encouragement to the men. These jet planes were new to the world. They were fast and deadly. They could easily outrun a American P-51 Mustang. The jet planes was a whole lot different than the other German planes such as the Messerschmitt Me BF 109. The top speed of the 262 is about 540 MPH compared to the P-51 at around 430 MPH. Thats a 110 MPH difference.
The Tuskegee Airmen originally had P-40 Warhawks. There were many problems with these planes. They were slow and unable to out maneuver German planes. On the good side they were tough and durable. In July 1944 the Tuskegee Airmen were upgraded to P-51 Mustangs. The new planes helped them in multiple ways for example, they were much faster that the old planes. They had more fire power, and they were much mobile.
On 5/6/15 the U.S air force honored the Tuskegee Airmen by having a ceremony for the three Tuskegee Airmen that was there. This is a quote that was said by James H. Harvey. "We weren't supposed to exist," he said. "We weren't supposed to graduate from Tuskegee University - we did. We weren't supposed to be successful - we were. We were too successful. We didn't get any recognition after the war." "It's good to gather them here with the cadets, because it inspires us to achieve that kind of legacy and history," he said. "Having them here brings so much pride into what we do, and gives us a chance to remember why we came to the Academy. It's intimidating to see what the Tuskegee Airmen have accomplished, but we all want to rise to that."