WW2artist, Yours is a fine site. Perhaps you would be interested in an anecdote. In the 1970s, I worked with a good ol' boy who had been a ball turret gunner on B-17s flying out of southern Italy. In conversation about his experiences, I will not recount the racist language he used when referring to flyers from the 332 Group. But he did say to me "When you saw those '51s with the red tails, man, you knew you were goin' to get home."
John Cahill, Mount Vernon, Virginia USA