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In my original post I stated that the Tuskegee squadrons flew mostly milk run missions against the Italian and Romanian Air Forces. Even after the "surrender" of Italy many Italian forces continued to fight on the Axis side. They faced execution if they did not. In my original post I also stated that the Tuskegee airmen had only ONE kill in their first 6 months of operation, later retracted by the Air Corp. Most of their kills came late in the war while escorting bomber missions OVER GERMANY.
The Luftwaffe withdrew most front line fighter units to Germany early in the war in an effort to stop American daylight raids. Only a few units were left near the front lines, mostly on the Eastern Front. It is instructive to remember that when the Luftwaffe was ordered to make a maximum effort to counter the D-day landings they had only TWO (count 'em, two) fighters operational in France to carry them out.
German fighters could barely reach the altitude of the bomber formations, usually attacking head on. After one pass they would usually have to return to base often out of fuel making dead stick landings. They were easy prey at that point. The jet fighters were also usually shot down while returning to base. At low altitude they were hampered by the long spooling time of their jet engines and could not climb or gain speed quickly. The usually tactic used in escorting bombers was for the escorting planes to attack the Luftwaffe planes head on. If the Luftwaffe could be prevented from making their "one pass" they would be left behind by the bombers and be unable to make another.
I stand by my original assertion that the Tuskegee airmen were a group with, at best, a mediocre combat record. Any attempt to portray them otherwise is just politicly correct bullshit.
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