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.
An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing crashed during a training mission in Michigan on Sept. 17. The fighter's sole pilot ejected and is in stable condition at a local hospital.
