St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-04-06
Negro Flyers
Feat Doesn't
Surprise Wife


New York.-Lieutenant Roscoe
C. Brown, named in field dispatches
as the first Negro fighter pilot to
engage and destroy an enemy jet
plane, was extolled yesterday by
his Harlem wife for providing "a
further rebuke to those who would
take away from the Negroes cour.
age as a combat soldier"
Lieutenant Brown, the husband
of Mrs. Laura Jones Brown, of this
city, is assigned to the S32d Fight
er Group, a Negro outfit based in
Italy. He is one of three Negro
pilots of Psi Mustangs who were
credited with destruction Of jet
planes during a forty-minute aerial
dogfght over Berlin on March "a
The two other pilots are Flight
Officer Charles v. Brantley, Of st.
Louis, and Lieutenant Earl R. Lane
of Wickiffe, Ohio.
Providing Fighter Escort
They were helping to provide
fighter escort for group Of bomb
ers heading for industrial targets
in Berlin when the jet planes ap-
peared.
Lieutenant Brown mistook the JET
planes for Focke-Wulf 1905, which
are not as fast as jet planes, and
only realized his error when the
enemy turned and streaked away
from the pursuing Mustangs.
By then the bombers were call
ing for aerial support. Lieutenant
Brown spotted a jet approaching
the bombers from a rear position
He said he unanswered his plane
until the jet was within range, gave
it a blast from his guns, and Sec
onds later saw the enemy pilot
bail out. He said he trailed the jet
plane until he saw it crash.
Had Sixty-fOur Missions
"Happy?" said Mrs. Brown. "Ot
course am. It was Roscoe's first
plane. He has been in action eight
months, has had sixty-four missions
and is due for a leave soon. he
was fretting in one of his letters
that he would have to come home
without plane to his credit"
Lieutenant Brown is the son of
DR.. and Mrs. Roscoe c. Brown, Of
Washington. He was graduated
with honors in 1913 from Spring
field College, Springfield, Mass,
and went Immediately into the
Army. He was trained as a pilot
at the Tuskegee Army Airfeld,
Tuskegee, Ala, and was assigned
last August to the 332d Fighter
Group. He is the father Of a if
teen-month-old daughter, Doris
Marilynne.
The 332d Fighter Group, consist
ing of four squadrons, is command
ed by Colonel Benjamin o. Davis,
Jr., who recently disclosed that his
Negro pilots had destroyed seventy
five enemy planes in the air and
twice that number on the ground
N. Y. Herald Tribune.
Write The Fellows Overseas
Letters are the meat and bread
of a soldiers existence. It is on
them that he depends to bridge the
tractless distances between his sta
ton over here and "that world"
for which he longs.
Sometimes" Pvt. Abraham
Roberts, 1912 Capital Avenue,
Cleveland, Ohio, told me, "the right
letter from the right person at the
wrong time can make a CT blow
his top" Writing the kind of letter
that will boost the morale of
soldier can be q delicate art, or it
can be an almost criminally
thoughtless performance.
Here are some things the boys
in this outfit want to hear from
their women back home:
1. ~ still love you and am faith
full" You can't repeat this too
often.
2. 81 have deposited the money
you sent" in the John Doe bank
invested in war bonds-bought new
clothing-school books for the chill
dren-sent your mother 5 dollars.
Give an accounting, and for heav-
ems sake let him know you re-
ceived his money, souvenir tele-
gram.
8. The health of his relatives.
Something about his friends. New
events in the community. New
preachers, new stores, anything
that might have changed the town
or neighborhood.
s. Send pictures, late magazines,
books, games-any kind.
If there is a child born since his
induction, send a new photo of the
baby at least every two months.
ENGLAND'S S AND 10