Lt. Bob Friend

Lt. Bob Friend was in attendance at the recent Wings Over Camarillo air show. At 95 years of age, Lt. Friend is one of few remaining Tuskegee-trained airmen.

Tuskegeeairmen.org explains: “Tuskegee Airmen" refers to the men and women, mostly African-Americans, who were involved in the so-called "Tuskegee Experience", the Army Air Corps program to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, instructors, and all the personnel who kept the planes in the air.”

The Tuskegee Airmen were initially equipped with P-40 Warhawks briefly with P-39 Aircobras (March 1944), later with P-47 Thunderbolts (June-July 1944), and finally with the airplane that they would become most identified with, the P-51 Mustang (July 1944).

During the war, the Tuskegee airmen painted their airplanes identifying colors to identify the four fighter squadrons of the segregated 332nd fighter group.

The colors representing the four fighter squadrons...

Red and yellow cowling represents the 302nd Fighter Squadron.

The A on the side represents the 99th Fighter Squadron.

Yellow banding on the wings represents the 301st Fighter Squadron.

Red fins on the wings represents the 100th Fighter Squadron.

The restored Red Tail P-51C Mustang is the most recognized of the Mustangs. The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Red Tail Squadron’s rare P-51C Mustang represents all of the personnel that are now known as Tuskegee Airmen: pilots, bombardiers, navigators, ground crews, mechanics, cooks, ambulance drivers, medical staff, administrative personnel, etc.