Warren Ludlum, a World War II bomber pilot, told the Associated Press news service in an interview last week that his bomber was shot down while being escorted by fighters flown by the Tuskegee Airmen. He went on to say that one of the mission’s Tuskegee Airmen—Starling Penn—was himself shot down and spent time in the same POW camp. One of the two historians who ignited a firestorm over their claim that the Tuskegee Airmen did not have a perfect no-bombers-lost record—William Holton of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.—confirmed Penn’s fate.
Brig. Gen. Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, the last surviving triple ace from World War II, was honored one last time by the nation's top Airmen when he was buried here with full military honors March 30.