Slightly off-topic I know, but to correct things: There was a myth among the bombers crews that the 'Redtails' had never lost a bomber on escort, but it wasn't true. It is true however, that they had a very good record in terms of how well they protected stuff and their kill ratios were very high. And it is also true that many Eighth Air Force bomber squadrons specifically tried to get them as escorts, although some were unaware that the Red-tailed P-51s were flown by black guys.
The main reason for their success was probably owing to the fact that since black guys had such a hard time getting into the cockpit, it's likely that they were probably much better (on average) than a typical white pilot.
However, this doesn't tell the whole story, some of the statistics for bomber losses can be misleading. Most notably: by the time the Redtails were operational, the Luftwaffe was largely on the defensive (putting much of their faith in 'wonder weapons' such as the Heinkel Salamander and Me-262). As a result, losses in Europe in the late stages of the war were considerably less than during the pioneering days of strategic bombing - a time when B-17s and B-24s were taking massive casualties, on raids to targets such as Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Ploesti. But, many of these type of raids took place before the Redtails were operational. In fact, quite a number of late-war daylight bomber crews flew an entire tour without even seeing an enemy fighter.
That's not to take away from the black pilot's guts and skill, of course, which is not in doubt at all.
I'd be happy to see a black guy on my SH4 submarine - after all, he might bring along some Robert Johnson records for the gramophone, then I wouldn't have to listen to all that Vera Lynn/Andrews Sisters stuff.
