Chris Bucholtz, whose full-time job is as the editor of Semiconductor Manufacturing Magazine, has written extensively on aircraft history. He is the aircraft editor of Internet Modeler, where he introduced his 'The Pilot and The Plane' series of long-form interviews with World War 2 aviators in 2002, and his work has appeared in Flight Journal and Air Enthusiast.

Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives in New Hampshire. He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1974-78, and since he graduated with honours, he has been working professionally in the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissioned to paint for the US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon.

The USAAF's Tuskegee Experiment, designed to prove that African-Americans were not capable of flying combat aircraft, resulted in the creation of one of the USAAF's elite units. Commanded by Col Bejamin O Davis, the 332nd were able to boast 111 aerial kills, 150 strafing victories and even the sinking of a German destroyer by the war's end. The group were both feared and respected by the Germans, who called them the 'Schwartze Voglemenschen' (Black Birdmen), and this book reveals the true story of the unit who rose above discrimination to achieve elite status.