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^[[Original scanned September 27, 2002.  Reduced print – for full-sized print, see Davis Box 163, Folder 1]]

Page 2  JOURNAL AND GUIDE  SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1943

Returning Hero Tells Newsmen He Found No Discrimination Away
(Continued from page 1)

discriminatory by the most rabid race leader."

Colonel Davis said that the squadron was "better trained and better equipped" than any American squadron committed to combat.  He added that it was weak to only [[?use]] respect and that was he and his flight commanders had had no actual combat experience.

The squadron was committed to combat about June 1.  Its first intrusions were over the island of Pantelleria daily until its fall on June 11.  It also escorted bombers during this period, and six of its [[?]] had their first brush with enemy aircraft during the Pantelleria [[?show.]]

During the first nine days of July the squadron escorted bombers to Sicily.  On every trip, he said, they were attached by superior numbers of enemy fighter planes.

Colonel Davis was assigned to the fighter group now being trained at Selfridge Field, Michigan.  He will go to Mitchell Field, New York.  Upon completion of his temporary tour of duty at Mitchell Field, he will report at Selfridge Field.

The Ninety-ninth Squadron participated in about 300 sorties in the North African campaign.  Colonel Davis and twenty-six of his pilots were decorated.  He received the Air Medal with Oak leaf Cluster.  He explained that the decoration was a routine practice – that pilots are given the Air Medal for ten sorties over enemy lines and ten more will get an Oak Leaf Cluster.

Asked to tell about his accident which happened in North Africa, he said he got lost, went into a small field and did not see a ditch that was there.  He said the accident did not amount to anything except that the plane was not much good after the crack up.

"I definitely regard the work done as no longer an experiment."  Colonel Davis said with respect to the view of ranking Army Air Force officers that the use of colored pilots was an experiment.  "Those who have flow with us realize that the experiment is over," he stated.

Ottie Stewart, war correspondent for the Afro-American joined the squadron about the middle of July or perhaps earlier, Colonel Davis said, and remained with them most of the time through the Sicilian campaign.


Text Of Lt. Col. Davis' Statement

I put down a few notes here simply for the reason that I would like to present some facts in as orderly a manner as I can.  I am not prepared to make any set speech here this morning, but I would prefer to refer to these notes so that the story will be told in a comprehensive manner.

I had had the honor and the pleasure of commanding the 99th Fighter Squadron from August 27, 1942, until September 2, 1943.  During that period I had 27 pilots and 300-odd enlisted men develop from a relatively untrained state to a combat team of which anyone serving with the organization could justly be proud.  I said that I had the pleasure to command this unit, actually that pleasure was realized only when it became apparent that the 99th Fighter Squadron had taken and could maintain its proper place in the Northwest African Theater of Operations.  Very little pleasure started prior to that time.

Just what a Negro pilot in a [[?P]] would do when antiaircraft fire burst about his ship or when an enemy aircraft was strewing cannon shots and machine gun bullets about his cockpit was a matter that was really conjecture in the minds of some of those high-ranking officers in the AAF.  The 99th Fighter Squadron therefore was an experiment to determine whether the Negro pilot was physically, mentally and emotionally suited to the rigors of combat flying.  It is a very significant fact, I believe, that all members of this organization were [[?impressed]] at all times with the knowledge that the future of the Negro in the Air Corps probably would be dependent largely upon the manner in which they carried out their mission.  Hence, the importance of the work done by the squadron, the responsibility carried by every man, be he ground newsman or pilot meant that very little pleasure was to be had by anyone until the experiment was deemed an unqualified success.

The 99th is a unique organization in the AAF.  A large percentage of the enlisted corps was specially recruited from Negro colleges all over the United States and sent to a body in Chanute Field for training.  The pilots, while not specially selected, had the advantage of going through all the stages of training with the best instructors, equipment and facilities that our Air Corps could provide.  Outstanding officers of the Air Corps kept [[?]] and constant touch with the progress made by pilots and ground crews.  Every effort was made by all concerned to insure that this unit would have the [[?sons]] of the interior equipped with every advantage that the Air Corps could provide.

In the meantime, the squadron received the attention of the press.  When was the unit going to the combat zone?  Why the delay?  Much attention was directed toward the segregated aspects of the Tuskegee Airfield.  This publicity had a powerful effect upon the individual members of the 99th.  The eyes of the nation were upon this organization.  It was true that he felt hurt to find that his training station at Tuskegee Army Airfield was [[?]] regarded by some persons [[?]] the military establishment as being a discriminatory [[?group.]]  However, he had the good sense to realize that the best means he had to defeat the end of supporters and philosophers who relegated him to a subsidary role in the life of the United States was to do his job in such a way that the world would know that he was capable of performing a highly specialized and technical piece of work in a creditable manner.

That fact that his unit was an experiment became a challenge to him, a challenge which he had answered, and one which would [[?set]] up tendencies to many things that were unpleasant to him and others of his race.  If any single mark could be credited with the measure of success so far achieved by this squadron, it is this [[?]] which exists explicitly in the minds of this organization.  Every man in the 99th will go through any orders commanded by combat or garrison existence to assure the successful completion of the experiment.  At all times every man realizes that the pleasures and relaxations that are available to men in other organizations are not available to him because his test is far greater, his responsibility is much heavier, and his reward is the advancement of his people.

Now it is necessary that I invite your attention t this philosophy in order that you may better understand the reactions of the individual officer and soldier of this organization.

I shall now relate to you our experience overseas.  These same experiences would be indeed commonplace if they were related about a white fighting squadron.  For this squadron every step was a dramatic one.  I should like to state at the outset, and I consider this very important, that from the time this squadron left the continental limits of the United States and that was on April 15, 1943, to the present time, there has not been a single circumstance or incident which could be regarded as discriminatory by the most rapid race leader.

The first of the drama began the day before we sailed.  The passenger list showed the transport commander that I was to be the senior line officer on board the transport.  I was directed to pick a staff consisting of an adjutant, mess officer, police and prison officer, a provost marshal and then report to the transport commander as executive officer.  This unit of colored officers carried out the orders and policies of the transport commander despite that fact that of the 4,000 troops on board, less than 16 per cent were colored.  After the first 44 hours or so of [[?]] and wonder at the unusual staff of the transport commander, everything proceeded smoothly and without incident for the remainder of the B-day voyage.

During all this time the members of the squadron basked in the [[?]] of the attention paid them by other soldiers on board and succeeded admirably in [[?ing]] the [[?imagination]] that the colored pilot and colored soldier are not so very different after all.

It was here also that the entertainment section, which isn't in any Table of Organization, was born.  This section, under the capable direction of the Acting Special Services officer, Lieutenant Letcher, went a long way toward effecting cordial public relations for the squadron.  This entertainment section provided an excellent show for units within travelling range of all of our [[?]] areas from the port of [[?barication]] in Africa clear on through Sicily.  Again the impressions created in the minds of the audiences were that these men who were giving these shows are just about the same as the men in "my outfit," and this was not by accident because the men who participated in that show are intelligent men and they realized that at all times instead of just giving a show they were doing a job for the 99th.

Upon landing in Carabianca we were met by the Assistant A-2 of the Northwest Training Command, Colonel Allison, Air Corps.  This officer, who is now on his way back to the States for a well-deserved rest, assured me that he would be available at all times for the solution of any problem that might arise.

The following day he took me and my operations officer, Captain Roberts, in to see General [[?Crump]] who informed us that we would remain in the area until we would be satisfactorily equipped for combat and that we would not move into the combat zone until I felt that everything possible had been done in the way of preparation.  He sent me on a preliminary reconnaissance of our new station, located about 130 miles inland.  This station was located in French Morocco.  Nearby was a service command station and the Commanding Officer of this station, Colonel Phillips now in Sicily, was most cordial in his offers to ease any supply problems that might arise.  There was also at the station a fighter bomber group commanded by Colonel Stevenson, whom I had the pleasure to know at the Academy.  We moved to this station by a French train and covered 130 miles in about 17 hours, and when we complained about the slowness of the train we were informed that we were lucky to move at such a fast rate of speed.

Our stay there was probably our most pleasant stay overseas.  We were there about a month.  Most cordial relations existed between the members of the squadron and the members of the fighter bomber group nearby.  The pilots of the two organizations engaged in impromptu dogfighting to determine the relative superiority of the P-40 and the A-38, and we were very happy to verify our belief that the F-40 was vastly superior in this phase of aerial combat.  Enlisted men of the two groups got together very well in all types of athletic contests and other means of recreation.

The town of Fez was found to be one of the most delightful spots that any of us had ever visited.  One unusual feature of our stay there was that members of my organization and members of those other organizations visited the town of Fez every night, for a period of over a month and not one single unpleasant incident arose.

The officers of the squadron were made socially secure in the town by the [[?state]] of Josephine Baker.  Miss Baker insisted on presenting several different groups of our officers to the prominent French and Arab families in the town.  All in all, Miss Baker was very largely responsible for our most pleasant social relations in the town of Fez.

It was during our stay here that four P-38 pilots whom we had met on the boat on the way over, came to visit me.  They were ferrying some P-39s from Oran to Casablanca and en route they, of their own volition, simply stopped over to pay us a visit.  I mention this simply to indicate that a considerable bond exists among those who fly regardless of color or race.

Our equipment was of the best.  We ferried in 27 brand new P-40s, and all of us experienced for the first time the thrill of flying a brand new airplane.  Lieutenant Colonel Philip Cochran – the Flip Corkin of "Terry of the Pirates" ... was our most capable instructor.  He imbued all of us with some of his own very remarkable fight, and spirit, and in addition to that he taught us what to do and what not to do in aerial combat.  We all remember with a smile his opening commentary on the slowness of the P-40.  "The P-40 pilot never yet ran away from a fight – because he couldn't!"  Yet we all know that the P-40 has a more remarkable combat record in this war than any other fighter airplane except possibly the British Spitfire.  The P-40 we jokingly say, has three important abnormalities.  The first one is turn, which enables you to present a very difficult target to an enemy fighter;  the second one is turn, and the third one is also turn.  In aerial fighting this characteristic is naturally of great importance.

We had two other instructors who were with us until we left for Tunisia.  A Major [[?Kagos]] and a Captain Fuchler.  Both of these officers had had extensive combat training, one in England and one in the African campaign, and both had since been returned to the training command for institutional purposes.  These officers worked unceasingly to make us ready for the real test and all of us felt very grateful for their efforts.

On the 31st of May we took air for the Dane [[?Ben]] peninsula and the final phase of the experiment.  I personally believe that no unit in this war has gone into combat better trained or better equipped that the 99th Fighter Squadron.  We were weak in one respect only and that was simply that the squadron commander, myself, and the flight commanders had had no actual combat experience.  That is a very desirable [[?feature]] because it gives a good bit of confidence to shoe who are led that the man who is in charge of the formations knows what he is doing and frankly I didn't know initially, nor did my flight commanders.  On the other hand, this deficiency was balanced by the fact that my pilots [[?arranged]] about 356 hours in a P-10, and a young pilot in thees days who has 356 hours in a P-10 before he goes into combat is a hard man to find.  

All of us were a little on edge because we were going into something we hadn't experienced before.  This [[?]] was eased by Colonel William Momyer, who commands a very famous fighter group which is now [[?ed]] up at the front.  We were attached to his group for operations and attached for operations meansjust one thing and that alone, simply that every night the group operations officer telephoned to my operations officer the missions set up for the next day.  I might explain that a little bit differently – the group in the African theater comprised of the strategical air force and the tactical air force.  We were members of the tactical air force.  Under the tactical air force headquarters there is an air support command and this air support command doles out the daily missions to the groups.

A squadron [[?]] is the basic fighting team in an air force, or actually a small unit, and consequently it would be much better for a single squadron to get its missions from a group headquarters rather than a large all support command headquarters.  Colonel Momyer, in giving us the missions, treated us exactly as one of his squadrons.  He had those of his own and we had one, that being four squadrons.  We got our fourth of the missions given by his air support command.  Colonel Momyer [[?ed]] initially that my flight commanders and myself fly as wing men on one of his missions so that we might get some experience initially before attempting to lead our own men into combat.  He also advised me very [[?]] onthe detail of training a squadron in a combat zone.

At that time, shortly after the first of June, the Pantelleria show was going on and our first missions were over that island.  We dive-bombed objectives on the island every day until its fall on the 11th of June.  We had our first bomber escort, B-20s, B-24s, A-70s and some British Baltimores, to the island.  Six of our pilots had their first brush with enemy aircraft during this show but the remainder of us experienced only some of the very inaccurate brand of flak that the Italians throw up.  After Pantelleria, Colonel Momyer's group moved to the island and we received our operational control from a fighter group commanded by Colonel McNorris.

From the first of July to the [[?th]] of July we escorted bombers to Sicily and these were our most active days.  On every trip we were attacked by superior numbers of enemy fighters.  The tactics employed by the enemy fighters were to draw off the escorts so they could get to the bombers.  Actually they were not particularly interested in shooting down enemy fighters, so we had to take some action to prevent them from shooting us down.

I would like to say just a word about the German air force.  Its tactics have changed [[?]] a bit since the Tunisian campaign.  The pilots are not as eager as they used to be;  they have undoubtedly lost the best of theirs and they no longer press their attacks, as I hear they did in the past.  Whereas formerly they would stay down and lap it up, they now make one ineffective pass and head for home.  On the other hand, the pilots of my squadron who were initially uncertain of themselves, had now developed a very strong fighting spirit and were eager for an opportunity to meet the German and really fight it out.

An interesting sideline in this connection is perhaps the growth of religious feeling among the pilots.  Toward the end of the Sicilian campaign I had very little trouble getting together an audience for the [[?cruising]] chaplain, Colonel [[?Pino]].  He always had a [[?]] of pilots to speak to.  Lieutenant Bowling, one of my pilots, was shot down by flak, in the Mediterranean and forced to sit in his dinghy for 24 hours and he said to me:  "You know, Colonel Davis, when you sit out there that long, shivering from cold at night, and trying to hide from the heat of the sun by day and always hoping against hope that somebody is going to sail past and pick you up, you just pray automatically."

After the middle of July we had a squadron of pilots whose fondest dreams were no longer about the girls back home, (instead they dreamed about a German pilot who would be foolish enough to sing it out in mortal combat.  At our chosen altitude we had the better airplane, but the German has learned his lesson and now makes his pass from out of the skies, coming down at 350 or more miles an hour and gets on out.  We get a fleeting shot as he passes by.

The most interesting engagement took place on a bomber escort mission to [[?Selares]], Italy.  Actually, it probably shouldn't have been as interesting as it turned out to be.  The controlling factor is that the leader of the bomber formation couldn't get his bom bar doors open on the first run over the target.  This necessitated his going around two more times and it gave enemy fighters who didn't know we were coming the opportunity to get off their airdrome and come up and get us.  We actually saw enemy fighters scramble and climb, and they really do climb.

Our ships were going escort for the bombers that day and we were there with them.  The bottom, medium and top cover was provided by another group of fighters, so we absorbed all of the attack of this 20-plus [[?ME-100s]], [[?Margid ?]], and PW-100s, and on that day we lost a couple of aircraft.  We definitely destroyed one of the enemy, probably destroyed a couple more and damaged [[?three]].  We believe that one of our pilots is a prisoner of war.  Incidentally on that day General Eisenhower [[?]] the field and during his [[?]] congratulated Captain Hall, one of our flight commanders, on his and our first confirmed victory.

Our field was often visited by high-ranking officers of both the British and American army.  Among the visitors were such men as Air Marshall Cunningham, in command of the Tactical Air Forces, Lord Trancher of the last war;  General House, Commanding General of the 12th Air Support Command;  General Doolittle, who is in command now of the Strategic Air Force;  General Spaatz, Commanding General of the Northwest African Air Force;  and many others which I won't name.

After ditto for the Sicilian island, the 19th of July, we provided cover for the landing beaches on southeastern Sicily.  We escorted C-47s which moved the echelon of the various units to new bases on the island.  On the 19th of July we moved to a base on the southern coast and we provided air support for the ground troops by dive-bombing.  We strafed strong points holding up their advance, trucks that were bottled up on the very few roads on the northern part of the island.

After the fall of Sicily, we directed our time to training replacements that reached us from the States.  We got new combat crews and the men in charge of the training got a good bit out of the new responsibilities of the responsible places in the formations which they had to fly.

On September 2, I received orders assigning me to the 332nd Fighter Group and left for the States.  I believe that the men that I left behind instead of being the fledglings they were on the first of June are now seasoned veterans of a combat experiment that all of us may well be proud.

That concludes the statement which I planned to make except for the following remarks:  I can tell you that the men of my squadron and my other comrades at the front are just as interested in what you are doing back here as what they are doing over there.  They are hitting hard – all of them, of all races, colors, and creeds.  To follow through, there is one big thing those at home can do.  That is, to "Back the Attack" with War Bonds.  I [[?ly]] hope that every Negro in America will do his part in the Third War Loan to keep their faith with our fighting men over there.

^[[Davis B005 F011 2sh2of2]]

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