Forum: F-16 News

100th Fighter Squadron honors Tuskegee Airman
By Jenn Rowell • August 26, 2009

Roscoe Brown Jr. flew the P-51 Mustang over Europe with the 100th Pursuit Squadron during World War II. Today, his name flies over Iraq on an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The jet is part of the 100th Fighter Squadron commanded by Lt. Col. Scott Patten of the Alabama Air National Guard.

Brown's name recently was painted on the side of one of the jets that deployed with the 100th, part of the 187th Fighter Wing that's based at Dannelly Field. The wing deployed about 250 airmen in July for a three-month tour.

The 100th was the designation of the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII, and it had been 64 years since a squadron with that name had been activated for combat missions. The squadron was formerly the 160th Fighter Squadron, but in 2007 it was redesignated to honor the famed airmen.

In Iraq, the 100th is serving under the 332nd Expeditionary Airlift Wing, a descendent of the original WWII Tuskegee unit, the 332nd Fighter Group.

Brown, a New York resident, visited Dannelly Field in June 2008 to tour the wing and to take a ride in the flight simulator. Patten led the tour and helped Brown get his simulated F-16 off the ground.

Brown completed 68 combat missions in the P-51 in Europe during WWII, but he had some trouble with the simulator.

"That's a computer game," Brown joked that day, causing laughter among the pilots.

Now, Patten is leading pilots of the 100th as they provide close air support to coalition forces in Iraq. The pilots have flown more than 300 sorties and logged more than 1,000 hours of flight time in the first month of the three-month deployment.

"While the original Tuskegee Airmen escorted their guys in the air to protect them, we support our guys who are on the ground," Patten said in a news release from Iraq. "If they get in trouble, we're going to be there to protect them."

Members of the 187th have deployed many times and were last deployed to Iraq in 2006 for a similar mission. But this is the first time the red-tailed 100th has been to Iraq.

source: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/art ... gee+Airman