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[Black fighter pilot series: Ground crewman of the Red-Tailed Mustangs, 332nd Fighter Pilot Squadron, sitting on wing to direct pilot, Ramitelli, Italy] – Historic Reproduction

[Black fighter pilot series: Ground crewman of the Red-Tailed Mustangs, 332nd Fighter Pilot Squadron, sitting on wing to direct pilot, Ramitelli, Italy], [1945 March] — historic photograph
[Black fighter pilot series: Ground crewman of the Red-Tailed Mustangs, 332nd Fighter Pilot Squadron, sitting on wing to direct pilot, Ramitelli, Italy], [1945 March]. Historic photograph from the African American History collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This historic photograph of [Black fighter pilot series: Ground crewman of the Red-Tailed Mustangs, 332nd Fighter Pilot Squadron, sitting on wing to direct pilot, Ramitelli, Italy] brings a moment of history to your wall. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Black fighter pilot series: Ground crewman of the Red-Tailed Mustangs, 332nd Fighter Pilot Squadron, sitting on wing to direct pilot, Ramitelli, Italy]

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A crewman perched on the wing of a Mustang to guide the pilot into position is a detail that sets this picture apart from other views of the 332nd Fighter Group. The ground crews at Ramitelli, a former Italian airfield on the Adriatic coast, kept the group's planes flying. Photographer Toni Frissell made the image in March 1945, when the Red-Tailed Mustangs were flying escort and ground-attack missions over northern Italy. Her portraits of the unit's Black servicemen were part of a wider effort to record the group at a time when the national press paid it little attention.

Created / published[1945 March]
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1940-1950.
NotesToni Frissell Collection (Library of Congress).
SubjectsUnited States.--Army Air Forces.--Fighter Group, 332nd--People--1940-1950. African Americans--Military service--1940-1950. World War, 1939-1945--African Americans--Italy.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,291 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-218597

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