Thomas Reilly (2)

According to the subtitle, this book is the history of the Tuskegee experiment the US Air Force brought in to being during WW II to use Afro-American men as pilots. Designed to fail, the young men who were brought into the program turned out to be very good pilots and despite efforts by racist white officers, made it to Europe where they were more than capable to shoot down German fliers and destroy any ground targets assigned.

Despite the title, the book's main focus is on the racism these men & women faced while being trained in Alabama where Jim Crow rules applied and then overseas where they experienced the same in the segregation rules that were applied on the bases where they served. The irony is these men volunteered to risk their lives to preserve the freedom that they never experienced at home with the hope that things would change once they returned home. As we know, that did not happened and it is further ironic that as I was reading this book, the protests over the shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis were taking place in America. It is very difficult to understand how air force officers would permit their racism to prevent them from not using this huge source of manpower when so many air men were being lost in Europe.

The descriptions of the Black fliers in action were very flat and mundane being mainly lists of actions and the names of who went on the mission. Apparently the stories that bomber crews preferred the Red Tails (Tuskegee Airmen) as their escort since they stayed with bombers and were not as likely to chase off after German fighters leaving their charges undefended were true.

Black bomber squadrons never made it over seas as racist recruitment prevented them obtaining of enough manpower to man all the positions in a squadron.

A sad story that makes one angry at the waste of skilled men and women because of different skin colour. Of course it still continues today.… (mer)