MovieChat Forums > The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) Discussion > Reference to the 51st Fighter Group

Reference to the 51st Fighter Group

posted 17 years ago by MadTom
3 replies | jump to latest

At the end of the movie, the B-17 pilots learn they're going to Berlin and that they were to be escorted by the 51st Fighter Group. They then ask specifically to be escorted by the 332nd instead.

It was a pretty smart thing to ask for. Even with the P-51 Mustang being the longest ranged fighter in the world at that time, if the 51st Fighter Group had been tasked for an escort mission to Berlin, they would've run out of gas somewhere over northern Afghanistan, because they were stationed in Kunming, China at the time!

[–] NorthernSoulGuy 16 years ago

Yes of course a mistake should have been the 31st Fighter Group.

[–] MadTom 16 years ago

Now you're opening a whole new can of worms. Aside from my original main sarcastic point about the historical inaccuracy, there was no need to bad-mouth any other unit to make the 332nd look good.

I happened to be an F-4 Phantom Weapons Systems Officer (backseater) in the Air Force and flew with both the 51st and 31st Fighter Wings (which had been Groups in WWII), and am fairly familiar with the histories of both.

The 31st Fighter Group was the highest scoring group based in Italy in WWII. You might want to check the records and kill totals of the 31st and the 332nd against the German Me-262 jets on the Berlin mission of March 24, 1945. I'm pretty sure the bomber crews didn't want the 31st to stay home that day!

[–] lezardormeurgeant 16 years ago

Once more it' s a case of boxing History out of shape
to achieve p0litical c0rrectness.