99th Flying Training Squadron

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99th Flying Training Squadron [1]
200px
99th Flying Training Squadron Patch
Active 22 March 1941 – 1 July 1949
1 July 1988 – 1 April 1993
14 May 1993 – Present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Pilot Training
Part of Air Education and Training Command
19th Air Force
12th Flying Training Wing
12th Operations Group
Garrison/HQ Randolph Air Force Base
Engagements World War II
North African Campaign
Operation Husky
Operation Avalanche
Italian Campaign
Decorations Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.svg DUC
Outstanding Unit ribbon.svg AFOUA
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
The 99th Flying Training Squadron flies T-1A Jayhawks and they are in the process of painting the tops of the tails of their aircraft red, in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen the "Red Tails".

The 99th Flying Training Squadron (99 FTS) is part of the 12th Flying Training Wing based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. It operates T-1 Jayhawk aircraft conducting flight training. The squadron was formed during World War II as the first flying unit for African Americans. Known as the Tuskegee Airmen the unit served with distinction in the European Theater of Operations. Following the war it served as a flight training unit for four years in the 1940s until its inactivation. It was re-activated in 1988 to once again fill a flight training role.

History

World War II

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Main article: Tuskegee Airmen

The 99th was originally formed as the Army Air Force's first African American fighter squadron, then known the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The personnel received their initial flight training at Tuskegee, Alabama earning them the nickname Tuskegee Airmen. The squadron was originally tentatively scheduled to fly air defense over Liberia but was diverted to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

Considered ready for combat duty, the 99th was transported to Casablanca, Morocco, on the USS Mariposa and participated in the North African campaign. From Morocco they traveled by train to Oujda then to Tunis, the location from which they operated against the Luftwaffe. Flyers and ground crew alike were isolated in their initial command, the 33d Fighter Group by the racial segregation practices of the Army and group commander Colonel William W. Momyer. The flight crews were handicapped by being left with little guidance from battle-experienced pilots except for a week spent with Colonel Philip Cochran. The 99th's first combat mission was to attack the small, but strategic, volcanic island of Pantelleria in the Mediterranean Sea, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. On Friday July 2 1943, Lieutenant Charles B. Hall of Brazil, Indiana, shot down the first enemy plane for the group. "It is probably the first time in history that a Negro in a pursuit plane has shot down an enemy in aerial combat." [2] The 99th moved to Sicily where it received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its performance in combat.[1]

Eight Tuskegee Airmen in front of a
P-40 fighter aircraft
File:"1st Lt. Lee Rayford...who has returned to the United States from Italy where he served with the 99th Fighter Squadron. - NARA - 535836.jpg
1st Lt. Lee Rayford when he returned to the United States from Italy, where he served with the 99th Fighter Squadron. ca. 1941-1945

Colonel Momyer, however, reported to NAAF Deputy Commander Major General John K. Cannon that the 99th was ineffective in combat[3] and its pilots cowardly, incompetent, or worse, resulting in a critical article in TIME. In response, the House Armed Services Committee convened a hearing to determine whether the Tuskegee Airmen experiment should be allowed to continue. Momyer characterized the 99th pilots of being incompetent because they had seen little air-to-air combat. To bolster the recommendation to scrap the project, a member of the committee commissioned and then submitted into evidence, a "scientific" report by the University of Texas that purported to prove that African Americans were of low intelligence and incapable of handling complex situations (such as air combat).[citation needed]

Colonel Benjamin Davis forcefully denied the claims by committee members, but only the intervention of Colonel Emmett "Rosie" O'Donnell prevented a recommendation for disbandment of the squadron from being sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[citation needed] General Hap Arnold ordered an evaluation of all Mediterranean Theater P-40 units be undertaken to determine the true merits of the 99th; the results showed the 99th Fighter Squadron to be at least equal to other units operating the fighter.[3]

While operating from North Africa the unit supported the reduction of enemy fortifications on Pantelleria and Tunisia.[citation needed]

The 99th supported Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy and provided close air support to the U.S. 5th Army during its assaults on Foggia and Anzio and for French and Polish armies in their attack on Monastery Hill near Cassino.[4] On January 27 and 28, 1944, Luftwaffe Fw 190 fighter-bombers raided Anzio, where the Allies had conducted amphibious landings on January 22. Attached to the 79th Fighter Group, eleven of the 99th Fighter Squadron's pilots shot down enemy fighters, including Captain Charles B. Hall, who claimed two shot down, bringing his aerial victory total to three. The eight fighter squadrons defending Anzio together, claimed 32 German aircraft shot down, while the 99th claimed the highest score among them with 13.[5]

The squadron earned its second Distinguished Unit Citation on May 12–14, 1944, while attached to the 324th Fighter Group, attacking German positions on Monastery Hill (Monte Cassino), attacking infantry massing on the hill for a counterattack, and bombing a nearby strong point to force the surrender of the German garrison to Moroccan Goumiers.[citation needed]

In mid-1944 the squadron was assigned to conduct bomber escort missions. The unit supported bomber missions over Romania, France, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Greece. For its efforts during the war the squadron was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.[4]

Flying Training

Following the war the squadron returned to the United States where it flew training missions until its inactivation in 1949. It was reactivated in 1988 as a flying training unit. With the closure of Williams Air Force Base, Arizona the squadron moved to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Today it operates T-1 Jayhawk aircraft preparing pilots to operate air refueling, airlift, and bomber aircraft.[4]

Operations

Operations:[1]

Lineage

Lineage:[1]

  • 99th Pursuit Squadron (1941–1942)
  • 99th Fighter Squadron (1942–1944)
  • 99th Fighter Squadron, Single Engine (1944–1988)
  • 99th Flying Training Squadron (1988–Present)

Assignments

Assignments:[1]

Bases

Bases stationed:[1]

Aircraft

File:Tuskeegee reload P-51.jpg
99th Fighter Squadron mechanic reloading a P-51 Mustang, during World War II.

Aircraft Operated:[1]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ My three years with Eisenhower 1942-1945 by Harry C. Butcher
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Haulman, Dr. Daniel L. Air Force "Aerial Victory Credits of the Tuskegee Airmen". AFHRA Maxwell AFB. Retrieved: February 16, 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. LCC D769.85.C21 B598 2008

Bibliography

External links

See also

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