Hiram Mann
Fighter Pilot, 100th and 332nd Fighter Squadron
Artwork and research is by;
Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Aviation Art Store
This is the original painting.
Limited Edition Print. Autographed by Hiram Mann. $75.00
There are 350 limited edition prints in this series.
Limited Edition, Signed by the Ace. $75.00
Poster Print $18.00
Hiram Mann
This is another true American story of a young man who wanted to fly. Hiram wanted to fly so bad that he openly wrote a letter to the United States Army Air Corp per instructions how he could join the service and train as a pilot. Hiram had just finished one year of collage and was a newlywed. His new bride threatened to shoot off one of his toes if he joined yet his persuasions must have worked. The rejection letter though brief was factual in that the letter stated that there were no training facilities or openings for anyone who was not Caucasian.
This did not bother Hiram. The war in Europe was boiling over from country to country slowly dragging the world into the conflict. The desire for Hiram to serve his country was strong. He wrote a second letter. And then the third before the opportunity unfolded and he was accepted. History will note that the sole person who fought relentlessly for the opportunity for Hiram and his fellow would-be Tuskegee pilots was in fact Eleanor Roosevelt.
Hiram entered the Army Air Corp training as a Pre-Aviation student in 1942. He became a Aviation Cadet and finished all training as a single-engine combat pilot. The training facilities were located in Tuskegee Alabama. He graduated with his "Wings" on June 27, 1944.
There were four groups for the Tuskegee fighter pilots, the 99th, 100th, 301st and the 302nd Fighter Squadrons serving under the 332nd Fighter Group. The units were active in North Africa and later Italy. Hiram served in the Italian Campaign. He flew the sleek shinny silver P-51D Mustangs accented with the now famous Red-Tails. His first Mustang was lost while he was on a rest period. The pilot who flew Hiram's Mustang personally came to him and asked his permission to fly his fighter. Mind you now, no one pilot really "owned" any particular fighter because the aircraft were rotated in and out of the flight line based on mechanical servicing. Yet an aircraft usually was assigned to a pilot with his name stenciled under the cockpit. They were also allowed to decorate their fighter with either names, artwork or both. Hiram told me that he was touched by the act of the other pilot asking his permission.
Unfortunately the new pilot flew the same position as Hiram would have flown if he had been on flight status that day. The slot was called "Purple Heart Charlie". This is also called "Tail end Charlie" which was the most unprotected position in the fighter formation. Sadly during the combat mission the pilot was shot down and killed.
Hiram was assigned another Mustang in which he had his flight crew paint the name, "Boss Lady" on the cowling for him. Hiram flew "Boss Lady" on 48 missions. The way that each fighter squadron could easily identify each other in the air was that each squadron had the trim tab on the rudder painted different colors. When Hiram first arrived in Italy he was assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron which was decommissioned. He was then assigned to the 100th.
Hiram told me that during his first air-to-ground attack when he was strafing enemy positions he could see the tracers from his guns reaching out to the enemy below. He then noticed that fireballs were also coming up towards him flying past his fighter on both sides. "They were firing at me"! Hiram said that no matter how well they train you for your job, the fact that the enemy would try to kill you never became real until he saw the stream to fire directed at him. "Nothing can prepare you for that" he said.
Almost all of the sorties that Hiram flew were escort missions for American bombers. The mission for the fighter was to protect the bombers at all cost. Hiram told me that when the German fighters attacked, they seamed not to worry about the fighters, but went straight to the bombers. Hiram chased off many a Focke Wulfs and Messerschmitts. Hiram was told not to chase after the bombers, but to interrupt their attacks fending they away from the group even if it was just for a few minutes. Inside each bomber were ten men who could all die if they were left alone to defend for them self's.
Hiram told me that at one speaking engagement several years ago he was hugged by a very large man who wept on his shoulder saying that Hiram had saved his life coming to the aid of his bomber that was under attack. This is not so unreasonable considering that the gentleman had been a waist gunner in a B-24. I have interviewed many of these men and they will tell you in no uncertain terms of the terror they suffered as they were trying their best to fire on incoming enemy aircraft. It was a horrifying experience to have to stand and fight with enemy bullets tearing holes in the fuselage of the bomber all around them. Hiram comforted the man saying that he could not remember if it was him that day in the air during that combat, yet, if it was not that exact combat, Hiram did in fact preformed the same type deed many times.
I will add more here soon!
Hiram Mann and Sir Hamilton at the Fantasy of Flight Museum.
The original painting of "Boss Lady" is in the back ground.
Please visit the other Tuskegee Airmen pages I have worked with or researched.
Links to theirs pages are below, Thank you.
Benjamin O. Davis and a short history of the Air Group
Posted September 10, 2008