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A review by komet2020
Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and Pow, Revised Edition by Alexander Jefferson
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
RED TAIL CAPTURED, RED TAIL FREE is the wartime memoir of Alexander Jefferson (1921-2022) who, during World War II, had served as a fighter pilot with the 301st Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). Jefferson was among those elite group of airmen as known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Jefferson shares with the reader his experiences of growing up in Detroit (where he graduated from high school in 1938) and his subsequent life in Atlanta, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1942 from Clark College in Chemistry and Biology, with a minor in Physics and Mathematics. Then prior to pursuing graduate study at Howard University in Washington DC, Jefferson had enlisted in the USAAF, intent on becoming a pilot in spite of the odds placed against him. The USAAF had only reluctantly allowed African American men the previous year in its flight training program. The prevailing sentiment in the USAAF (which mirrored the attitudes in the U.S. armed forces toward African Americans) was that "Negroes" (as African Americans were referred to at that time) did not possess the necessary intelligence and aptitude to become competent aviators, much less successful combat pilots. Well, as Jefferson makes clear in his memoir, he overcame many obstacles placed in his path throughout the various phases of training, earned his wings upon graduating with Class 44-A in January 1944 at Tuskegee Army Air Field, and after advanced training in fighters at Selfridge Army Air Field outside of Detroit, was sent overseas to Italy where he was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group in June 1944.
At the time of Jefferson's arrival, the 332nd was transitioning from flying the P-47 Thunderbolt to one of the best fighter planes to see combat in World War II, the P-51 Mustang. The P-51 was the first USAAF fighter that had the range to escort the bombers to their targets deep inside Germany and back home, as well as the ability to take on the Luftwaffe on better than equal terms.
Jefferson would fly 18 combat missions (which entailed bomber escort, ground attack, and fighter sweep missions) before being shot down by flak on his 19th mission over Toulon, France on August 12, 1944, while attacking a German radar unit along the coast. He would be a POW in Germany until he (along with his fellow POWs) was liberated on April 29, 1945.
Jefferson also sheds light on his postwar life which involved serving as both a teacher and later assistant principal in the Detroit Public Schools System from 1948 to 1979, and his work as a founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen in encouraging and supporting African American youth interested in careers in aviation and aerospace.
What I found sobering about reading Jefferson's memoir was how restrictive the USAAF was in terms of the numbers of African Americans it allowed to become fighter pilots during World War II. He cited how it was that just a few days prior to graduating from advanced flight training in January 1944, four of his classmates who were expecting to earn their wings, were pulled out of the flight training program by the USAAF and informed that they were not going to graduate. According to Jefferson, "[s]ome of them had even purchased their uniforms and invited their parents and sweethearts to come to graduation. It was a loss of their manhood, and it caused them a lot of psychological stress; in fact, some of them are still psychologically wounded because they were washed out. I know some of these guys could fly better than I could, and they were certainly better soldiers."
This is a fantastic book which also contains some of Jefferson's own art work (most of which was done during his time as a POW) and photos of Jefferson, his family, and fellow Tuskegee airmen.
Jefferson shares with the reader his experiences of growing up in Detroit (where he graduated from high school in 1938) and his subsequent life in Atlanta, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1942 from Clark College in Chemistry and Biology, with a minor in Physics and Mathematics. Then prior to pursuing graduate study at Howard University in Washington DC, Jefferson had enlisted in the USAAF, intent on becoming a pilot in spite of the odds placed against him. The USAAF had only reluctantly allowed African American men the previous year in its flight training program. The prevailing sentiment in the USAAF (which mirrored the attitudes in the U.S. armed forces toward African Americans) was that "Negroes" (as African Americans were referred to at that time) did not possess the necessary intelligence and aptitude to become competent aviators, much less successful combat pilots. Well, as Jefferson makes clear in his memoir, he overcame many obstacles placed in his path throughout the various phases of training, earned his wings upon graduating with Class 44-A in January 1944 at Tuskegee Army Air Field, and after advanced training in fighters at Selfridge Army Air Field outside of Detroit, was sent overseas to Italy where he was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group in June 1944.
At the time of Jefferson's arrival, the 332nd was transitioning from flying the P-47 Thunderbolt to one of the best fighter planes to see combat in World War II, the P-51 Mustang. The P-51 was the first USAAF fighter that had the range to escort the bombers to their targets deep inside Germany and back home, as well as the ability to take on the Luftwaffe on better than equal terms.
Jefferson would fly 18 combat missions (which entailed bomber escort, ground attack, and fighter sweep missions) before being shot down by flak on his 19th mission over Toulon, France on August 12, 1944, while attacking a German radar unit along the coast. He would be a POW in Germany until he (along with his fellow POWs) was liberated on April 29, 1945.
Jefferson also sheds light on his postwar life which involved serving as both a teacher and later assistant principal in the Detroit Public Schools System from 1948 to 1979, and his work as a founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen in encouraging and supporting African American youth interested in careers in aviation and aerospace.
What I found sobering about reading Jefferson's memoir was how restrictive the USAAF was in terms of the numbers of African Americans it allowed to become fighter pilots during World War II. He cited how it was that just a few days prior to graduating from advanced flight training in January 1944, four of his classmates who were expecting to earn their wings, were pulled out of the flight training program by the USAAF and informed that they were not going to graduate. According to Jefferson, "[s]ome of them had even purchased their uniforms and invited their parents and sweethearts to come to graduation. It was a loss of their manhood, and it caused them a lot of psychological stress; in fact, some of them are still psychologically wounded because they were washed out. I know some of these guys could fly better than I could, and they were certainly better soldiers."
This is a fantastic book which also contains some of Jefferson's own art work (most of which was done during his time as a POW) and photos of Jefferson, his family, and fellow Tuskegee airmen.