The skies were filled with bombers and fighter planes. Their engines
hummed steadily, in the otherwise quiet skies above Germany. The target
of the March 24, 1945, mission was the Daimler-Benz tank assembly
plant—one of the most heavily guarded targets of the Third Reich.
As they approached Berlin, the reality of one of the most dangerous air missions of World War II became apparent. They were up against the world’s first operational fighter jets—the German ME 262. Amid the horrors of World War II, these were the monsters of the skies. They could fly 150 mph faster than the fastest U.S. fighter plane, and could climb 1,300 feet higher than the P-51 Mustangs they were up against in the battle.
“They had just a devastating effect when they encountered American bombers because they could climb up very high and just make passes through the bomber formations and knock them out,” said retired Air Force Col. Roosevelt Lewis.
Yet flying with the Americans was something the Germans had not expected—the Tuskegee Airmen. They were African-American fighter pilots who had to fight prejudice at home so they could go to war against the Germans, and whose participation in the battle was an honor. “They were afraid of nothing,” Lewis said. “They wanted a chance to fly and fight for this nation.”
The men who flew the red-tailed P-51 Mustangs are said to have never lost a bomber in all their hundreds of escort missions. The black pilots were discriminated against at every turn, yet they took that discrimination as a cause to show the world what they could do.
They saw that mission through, and escorted the bombers back to safe ground.
Read More: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/tuskegee-airmen-leave-legacy-of-perseverance-173474.html
As they approached Berlin, the reality of one of the most dangerous air missions of World War II became apparent. They were up against the world’s first operational fighter jets—the German ME 262. Amid the horrors of World War II, these were the monsters of the skies. They could fly 150 mph faster than the fastest U.S. fighter plane, and could climb 1,300 feet higher than the P-51 Mustangs they were up against in the battle.
“They had just a devastating effect when they encountered American bombers because they could climb up very high and just make passes through the bomber formations and knock them out,” said retired Air Force Col. Roosevelt Lewis.
Yet flying with the Americans was something the Germans had not expected—the Tuskegee Airmen. They were African-American fighter pilots who had to fight prejudice at home so they could go to war against the Germans, and whose participation in the battle was an honor. “They were afraid of nothing,” Lewis said. “They wanted a chance to fly and fight for this nation.”
The men who flew the red-tailed P-51 Mustangs are said to have never lost a bomber in all their hundreds of escort missions. The black pilots were discriminated against at every turn, yet they took that discrimination as a cause to show the world what they could do.
They saw that mission through, and escorted the bombers back to safe ground.
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