Hide Article Text (OCR)
German pilots trying to break up the Allied beach heed last week suddenly found a flock of P-40s diving on them. In a series of quick engagements, eight Nazis went down and the 99th Fighter Squadron, the only all-Negro fly ing unit now in actual combat, had chalked up one of its most spectacular victories. The outfit saw its first action at the end of the Tunisian campaign, then went on through Pantelleria, Sicily, Salerno. The 99th has been detailed mostly for close ground support, dive bombing and strafing ,enemy gun positions and troop concentrations only a few hundred yards ahead of our own infantry. That's one place the Germans simply haven‘t been sending their planes. ‘ The men of the 9Sth----almost 40 of them----were all carefully selected because of their background or previous flying experience. The first batch of six cadets who began training at Tuskegee Institute in March, 1940, included the son of Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis. The son, named after his father, was himself a West Pointer and now is a lieuten ant colonel. At the present he is back in the States to form a new Negro fighter group. He was the 99th's first CO. Other pilots in the outfit include 2nd Lt. John Gibson, Washington, D. C., nephew of the special aide to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson; 1st Lt. Sam Bruce, Seattle, former All-American quarterback; 2nd Lt. James Q. Freeman, New York, a tight heavyweight Golden Gloves champ who made two Olympic trips; 2nd Lt. Leon C. Roberts, Prichard, Alc., the “baby” pilot of the outfit at 22, who was a biology stu dent at Tuskegee; and 2nd Lt. Charles P. Bailey, Punta Gorda, Fla., one of the six Bailey boys in service. The 99th has an excellent ground crew. Most of its members received ten months of intensive specialized train ing at Chanute Field, Ill., before the unit was organized. Half the original cadre of 120 men have applied already for cadet training as fighter pilots, bombardiers (there’s a Negro bombing unit now being organized), navigators and engineering officers. ‘ THE GROUND MEN are a vital part of the 99th. MSgt. Alex Crawford (left, above), Dayton, Ohio, is the squad ron's maintenance and line chief. A greduste of Wilber force University, Crawford spent four years working on automobile engines in racing cars at Dayton. He has ap plied for the special naviga tion course. T-Sgt. Wendell La Fleur (center), Chicago, who come in at D plus one at Sa lerno, is chief operations clerk. His only complaint is that German planes usually strafed and dive bombed the outfit at chowtime. “It interferes with our digestion,’ La Fleur said. Cpl. Kenneth C. Freeman, Richmond, Va., is one of the seldom-publicized ground crew mechanics who has the job of patching up flak holes, tuning up motors ---- and sweating out the planes when ‘they go on their missions. CAPT. CHARLES B. HALL, leading pilot of the squadron, Jes Art Carter, was corre spondent for the Baltimore Afro - American, how he knocked down a FW-190 and a MB-109 over the Allied beachhead in one morning last week. The double win brought the total of the former Brazil, Ind., football and track coach to three, Capt. Hall was the first Negro pilot to shoot down an enemy plane when he got a FW-190 last summer while escorting a flock of B-25s on a bombing mission. All told, pilots of the 99th accounted for at least 12 Nazi fighters and bombers in aerial combats at the end of last week. (Text by Sgt. Ralph G. Martin, Pictures by Pfe. Brartin Harris.) , A STUDENT of the great sci entist, George Washington Carver, S-Sgt. Otis Handy (above), Salisbury, Md., was yearning to be a farm demon strator at Tuskegee. Then the Army picked him up and taught him how to be a me chanic, and a good one. Handy was one of the selected ground crew members who landed at Salerno on D plus one to build one of the first fields there. Some of the boys (right) listen to the orgen grinder-swing version of “Am apola” as played by their quarter-pint Italian friend. In the evenings, the boys have their own sessions when some British friends drop in to start the party off with “Tipper ary.’ The Yanks usually wind up with “Chattanoogs Choo- Choo.” The outfit has some first class singers like T-Sgt. James R. Anderson, South Bend, Ind., who studied music before entering the Army, THE MAJOR AND the minor. Maj. George Spencer Roberts, Fairmount, W. Va., is the 25- year-old CO of the 99th. He was the first cadet accepted for pilot training at Tuskegee. The minor is Junior, an or phan who tagged along when the outfit moved from Africa to Sicily. He speaks English like an Arab.
Newspaper Details
North Africa Stars and Stripes
Oran, Oran, DZ
Sat, Feb 05, 1944
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Carolyn C.
USA 15 Sep 2025
Other Publications Near Oran, Oran
North Africa Stars and Stripes
Oran Stars and Stripes
