The Southern Minnesota Wing Ghost Squadron was founded in 1971 as a remote unit of the Commemorative Air Force. After having acquired and restored several aircraft, the Southern Minnesota Wing's attention was caught by this aircraft project. The Wing was looking for a fighter to add to its collection of bombers, trainers and liaison aircraft.

A few years went by without a lot of progress being made on the Mustang restoration. Most of the effort was placed on the B-25 Miss Mitchell project. But during that time, the aircraft was inspected and a number of serious problems were noted. Most importantly, it was discovered that in order to move the aircraft more easily, the wings were actually chainsawed in half. This all occurred prior to the donation of the aircraft. The rest of the parts, however, weren't necessarily in good order either...

Cost estimates for the rebuild continued to mount until it reached about $350,000. About $100,000 of that cost was required solely for the rebuild of the wings, which required a brand new spar and a lot of other structural components to replace the damage done.

At the same time, research was being done as to which aircraft to represent. The logical choice was to create an aircraft which could tour with the B-25 Miss Mitchell and expand the story we are trying to tell.

While interviewing crew members from the 310th Bomb Group (12th Air Force), researching combat records and reviewing many books, a name kept coming up: "The Red Tails." Many of the B-25 crew members remarked how they would occasionally be escorted by these "Red Tailed Angels" and the sense of relief felt by their presence. By that time, it was pretty much settled: The aircraft we should pursue was one of the 332nd Fighter Group (15th Air Force).

top of page

The office of war information sponsored this 1943 poster, which shows factory workers at an integrated aircraft plant during World War II.

The next step was to open up discussions with the Tuskegee Airmen and their organization, The Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (TAI)

In February 1994, the Southern Minnesota Wing and the Tuskegee Airmen under president Bill Terry, found themselves in agreement as to the overall scope of the first and most important of all project Endorsements came in the form of a letter from the TAI. National Office.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The Project continued to move ahead slowly during those years following the TAI approval. Funds were coming in, but the flow was slow. It became apparent that not only wasn't the story about the Project getting out there as well as it should, but the Project needed a spokesperson to help move it along and bring it some high profile attention.

Enter August, 1996 and Lena Horne.

In the few months which followed Lena Horne's decision to become the Project's Honorary Chairperson, the Project has picked up additional steam. It has been featured in several magazines and calls are coming in with inquiries. A number of donations, including very valuable aircraft parts and cash contributions.

Although completed in late 1996, the newly rebuilt wings (which includes an entirely new extruded spar and many new stringers and a lot of new sheet metal ~ all required because of the chainsaw damage) came home in January, 1997.

1998 brought great news for the Red Tail Project. Several State of Minnesota Legislators, through the efforts of Mary Kay Hovanec-Johnson and John Schuck, became aware of the Project and felt that State support was appropriate. Later that year, the Red Tail Project was the recipient of a $100,000.00 matching grant from the State of Minnesota.

top of page