Home
Contact

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Red Tails



Yet another movie I'm looking forward to next year when it gets released on January. Lucas Film's, Red Tails, touches on the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. They were an Afro-American complement of Fighter Pilots that performed bomber escorts for the B-17 Fly Fortresses operating in Europe. They were known as the Red Tails because of the distinct red markings on the their planes. They were made famous by their record of minimum losses during their bomber escort duties in Europe that some bombing squadrons specifically asked for them during their sorties.

Red Tails Movie Trailer

I first learned of the Tuskegee Airmen from an HBO movie that came out in 1996 that starred Laurence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding Jr. If you haven't noticed this already, Cuba Gooding Jr. also stars in this film.



They were called the Tuskegee Airmen because they were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama. The Tuskegee Airmen faced racism during their time as the military was not sold on the capability of Afro Americans. Even Gen. George S. Patton Jr. had initial reservations of Afro-Americans serving as tank crews in his unit, but they changed after seeing their performance in combat.