10/13/2026
on October 13, 1942, the 332nd Fighter Group was activated at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.
The existing 100th Fighter Squadron joined two newly activated squadrons, the 301st and 302nd. Together, they began preparing for combat in a military that still segregated its Black personnel.
Their familiar red-tailed P-51 Mustangs came later. First came months of training in Alabama and Michigan, where pilots practiced flying and gunnery while ground crews prepared to maintain their aircraft overseas.
The group arrived in Italy in early 1944. Flying P-39 Airacobras, its pilots protected shipping, patrolled coastal waters, and attacked ground targets. That spring, the 332nd moved to Ramitelli and took on the bomber es**rt work for which it became widely known. P-47 Thunderbolts gave way to P-51 Mustangs.
The 99th Fighter Squadron had already fought in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. By July 1944, it was flying es**rt missions alongside the other three squadrons.
Every mission depended on work completed before takeoff: engines serviced, weapons checked, aircraft repaired, and supplies available. The group’s history includes the people who performed those jobs alongside the pilots who flew.
October 13 marks the activation of the unit that would become known as the Red Tails. 🤩
🌁: "Soon to be added to the nation's fighting forces will be an all [B]lack aviation squadron, whose members now are in training at Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. Some of the cadets at the Basic and Advanced Flying School for Negro Air Corps Cadets are shown here, January 23, 1942, lined up for review with Major James A. Ellison returning the salute of Mac Ross of Dayton, Ohio, as he inspects the cadets." ~ Library of Congress
