The 332nd Fighter Group was a unit of the U.S.

Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces based

in Italy during World War II. It was composed of black pilots and ground support
personnel trained at Tuskegee, Alabama. The members of the group became collectively
known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, blacks were not allowed to become pilots. However,
despite objections from the War Department, the U.S. Congress in 1941 forced the Air
Force (which at the time was part of the Army) to form an all-black combat unit. In an
effort to eliminate the unit before it could begin, the War Department set up a system to
accept only those applicants with an exceptionally high level of flight experience and
higher education. The system set a standard for black pilots that was higher than those set
for white pilots, and to the surprise of the Air Force, many Tuskegee applicants surpassed
the requirements.
These extraordinarity high standards, designed to set up the all-black units for failure, in
fact had the opposite effect and produced units composed of only the very best and most
capable and competent pilots available. In a year and a half of combat operations, the
"Red Tails" (so named for the group identification tail markings on their aircraft) gained a
reputation as exemplary bomber escorts. A commonly held belief that the 332rd FG never
lost to German fighters any B-17s or B-24s it was escorting is now under investigation, as
Air Force records indicate that at least a few bombers were lost to enemy fire.
The group's record is nonetheless distinguished in that regard. Its four fighter squadrons
are credited with 108.5 aerial victories, including three German jets. The group's top
scorer, officially credited with 5 destroyed, was 1st Lt. Lee A. Archer of the 302nd
Fighter Squadron. He was the war's only documented African-American Ace.
At the end of the war, more than 70 Red Tail pilots had been killed or were missing in
action.
In 1998, the 332nd Fighter Group was re-designated the 332nd Air Expeditionary
Group, and in 2005 it became the 332nd Air Expeditionary Operations Group and
was made the flying component of the 332d Air Expeditionary Wing in Iraq, which is
headquartered at Balad Air Base. The 332nd AEW is comprised of 9 distinct groups, five
of which are located at Balad. In addition to overseeing the five groups at Balad, the
Wing is responsible for the 407th at Ali Air Base in Tallil, 438th at Al Asad Air Base,
west of Baghdad in Al Anbar Province, the 447th at Sather Air Base at Baghdad
International Airport, and the 506th at Kirkuk Air Base.