The black gunsmith loads a machine gun belt with cartridges of caliber 12.7 mm for the wing machine guns of the P-51B Mustang fighter aircraft.
In the photo, the P-51B “Mustang” fighters and the black armourer from the 100th Fighter Squadron, the 332nd Fighter Group (better known as the “Tuskegee Pilots” – as its personnel were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama, USA), the 15th Air Army. Both pilots and squadron ground personnel were blacks. The squadron was based at the Italian airbase in Ramitelli.
Source of the P-51 Mustang: National Archives of the United States.
Location: Italy
Date: September 1944