Squadron Facts:
The 99th was the first squadron from the 332nd Fighter Group to see combat, shipping to its theatre
of operations on the 15th April, 1943. The individuals realised that not only were the representing
their Group, but also African Americans in general; the eyes of many would be upon them, some
hoping they would fail.

First based in Morocco, North Africa, they had further training acquainting themselves with war-
weary P-40Ls. The 99th, now ready for combat, were relocated to a base in Fardjouna, Tunisia,
at the end of May, 1943. It was here that they joined the 33rd Fighter Group who had recently
suffered high losses and badly needed replacements. The 33rd’s CO was far from happy to see
them and would constantly try to make them fail in their duties.

Many people think that the ‘Red Tails’ only escorted the ‘heavies’, however, the first missions
carried out involved the strafing of German airfields in their lightly armoured P-40Ls, sometimes
each fighter carrying 500 Ib bombs on their external racks.

The first aerial combat for the 99th took place on the 9th of June, 1943: A flight of 6 P-40s were
maintaining top cover for a formation of A-20 Havocs that were on their way to bomb targets in
Pantelleria. Four BF 109s were spotted by the Tuskegee Airmen; as the enemy fighters came in to
attack the Havoc formation, the 99th’s pilots turned into their attackers. A fierce aerial tumult took
place, with exchanges of fire from both sides. However, on this particular occasion, there were no
losses to either side. The 99th had had it’s first introduction to combat, successfully repelling enemy
attempts to down any medium bombers and surely saving the dozen A-20s from losing any of their
number.

It’s interesting to note that during this incident, a P-40 that had fallen into spin, regained control,
and then begun to join up with a near-by aircraft; that aircraft turned out to be FW-190! The 99th
pilot quickly opened up on the unsuspecting FW which subsequently began trailing smoke. However,
with heavy ground fire the P-40 pilot was forced to break off his attack and was therefore unable to
confirm a victory.

It is of course only my own speculation, but perhaps it’s possible the smoking Focke-Wulf was lost.
If this was the case, this aircraft would have been the first unconfirmed kill for the 99th Fighter
Squadron and Lt. Willie Ashley, the first Tuskegee pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft in World
War Two.

Flying offensive sweeps with the 33rd FG, the 99th also carried out strafing and dive bombing
against German held air-fields on the Island of Pantelleria with their P-40s. The 33rd was relocated
to El Haouaria shortly after the fall of Pantelleria on the 11th June, 1943.

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