Momyer, William W.

Sestřely Williama W. Momyera





Prameny:
osobní archív

Racial controversy

In September 1943, the first African American 99th Fighter Squadron was attached to his 33rd Fighter Group. In a report to the commander of XII Air Support Command, Major General Edwin J. House, he suggested that the 99th be withdrawn from operational deployment and assigned to coastal patrol on P-39, emphasizing their ineffectiveness in combat [i:aaaa]"In my opinion ... they have failed to show the aggression and commitment to combat that is necessary for a first class fighting unit. We can expect to get less work and less operational time out of the 99th than any squadron in this group." According to one source, Momyer blamed the 99th for failing to seek out air combat while ignoring its distinguished Presidential citation and the fact that he had personally ordered them to attack ground targets. House sent his own memo with similar suggestions to the deputy commander of the Northwest Air Forces, Maj. Gen. John K. Cannon, which was based in part on Momyer's report, and within four days the report reached Air Force headquarters in Washington, D. C.


Reports in the press that the Air Force was considering reducing the 99th Fighter Squadron's combat role, based in part on Momyer's report, were followed in October by a review by the War Department's Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policy after House's report reached them, in which Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr. refuted the charges and defended himself. The 99th Fighter Squadron continued to fight, but with different groups, and in July 1944 was joined with the 100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons to form the 332nd Fighter Group. An official study was then conducted to compare the performance of the 99th with that of other P-40 units operating in the Mediterranean, and on 30 March 1944 it was reported that the 99th performed as well as the other units.


Momyer retired from command of the 33rd Fighter Group in October 1943 and did not return to combat until the end of the war. He returned to the United States in 1944 and became chief of the Combined Operations Branch of the Air Force Committee, with the goal of developing doctrine for the cooperation of air land and sea forces in combat operations. Out of his work came the later USAF doctrine, with the top priority being the winning of air supremacy, the next priority being the isolation of front-line units by attacks on rear security.

en.wikipedia.org