The Tuskegee Airmen

THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, stars Laurence Fishburne, known for playing an aggressive character (Ike Turner) in WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, and a gentle, reclusive professor in AKEELAH AND THE BEE. This film also stars the equally versatile Cuba Gooding, who happens to be a household word in America.THE FILM IS BASED ON THESE EVENTS. The Tuskegee program began with the formation of the 99th Fighter Squadron at the Tuskegee Institute. After basic training the airmen were placed under the command of Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., then one of the few black graduates of West Point, then was transported to Casablanca, Morocco, on the USS Mariposa and to participate in the North African campaign. From Morocco they traveled by train to Oujda then to Tunis, the location from which they operated against the Luftwaffe. Flyers and ground crew alike largely were isolated by the racial segregation practices of their initial command, Colonel William W. Momyer. The Tuskegee Airmen were credited with 112 Luftwaffe aircraft shot down, the German-operated Italian destroyer TA-23 sunk by machine-gun fire, and destruction of numerous fuel dumps, trucks, and trains. The Tuskegee airmen flew more than 15,000 sorties on 1,500 missions. On a mission flown March 24, 1945, they escorting B-17s to bomb the Daimler-Benz tank factory at Berlin, Germany. During the action its pilots were credited with destroying three Me-262 jets of the Luftwaffe's all-jet Jagdgeschwader 7 in aerial combat that day.STORYLINE OF THE FILM. The film begins with several young African-Americans who meet on a train on their way to aviator school. They encounter a dose of reality during the trip, when they are required to move to a special blacks-only car on the train, to make room for white people (the white people are German prisoners of war). They encounter more doses of reality on the military base, where one of the officers, Major Joy, refers to them with the "n word," and sees it as his personal mission to sink the entire Tuskegee training program. At any rate, Major Joy does not succeed, and the Tuskegee airmen travel to north Africa, where they see huge quantities of combat action. Laurence Fishburne survives, but Cuba Gooding crashes during a mission.The film is characterized by its occasional stylized dialogue and by its didactic script. Overall, the film is geared to people of the ages ten and up. The entire script seems to be about 25 pages long, as there are no lengthy dialogues. The violence is kept to a minimum. There is a minimum of bad words. This would make an excellent teaching device for a civics class, for middle school students.THEATRICALLY STYLIZED and DIDACTIC SCENES. The recruits spontaneously derive nicknames from the men's background, and spontaneously begin using these nicknames. Mr.Fishburne is called "Iowa" because his character is from Iowa. Cuba Gooding exclaims, "Hey Iowa, are you ready for all this?" Other nicknames are "Stick" and "Train." The theaterical technique of conferring a nickname that corresponds to a character's origin, was also used in the film, HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN. Six minutes into HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN, a soldier is called by the nickname, "BROOKLYN." In a scene typical of countless sports movies, Cadet Leroy expresses self-doubt about finishing training, in view of the fact that 1/3rd of the men had already dropped out. But Mr.Fishburne give him a pep-talk. At first, Leroy expresses self-doubt saying, "I don't know." Then, Mr.Fishburne give him more pep-talking, and Leroy half-heartedly answers, "Yeah, I'm going to make it." Finally, after more pep-talking, Leroy exclaims affirmatively, "I'm going to make it." Another didactic theme, found in this movie, and in other movies such as BILLY BUDD by Herman Melville, OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN with Richard Gere, and A SOLDIER'S STORY starring Adolph Caesar, is humiliation and abuse from the officers directed to new recruits. Thus, if you don't mind that your movie entertainment is sometimes preachy, corny, or didactic, then you won't mind these excesses in THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN.QUOTABLE QUOTES. The film contains a number of quotable quotes:(1) For example, after a crash kills one of the cadets, the liaison officer tells the other cadets, "If you don't believe in God, you'd better find a damned good substitute."(2) In a confrontation between Major Joy, who wants to see the Tuskegee program eliminated, we find this exchange. The Major exclaims, "There's a war on," meaning that America should not be tinkering around with an experimental program to train black fliers. The Colonel replies to this with, "And I'd prefer that war not be on this base," meaning that it is not the Major's business to dictate military policy to the Colonel.(3) Another great line is delivered by an older member of a chain gang, cutting tall weeds in a field by a country road, under the supervision of redneck guards with toting rifles. Two of the cadets, Cappy and Hannibal, experience engine trouble and they land on a country road by the chain gang. "Just a little engine trouble," explains Hannibal (Mr.Fishburne) as he climbs out of his plane, and pulls off his goggles. Of course, this surprises the rednecks as well as the members of the chain gang. An older member of the chain gang smiles broadly, and quietly utters, "They're colored fliers." This low-key scene is likely to instill more pride in the viewing audience than a dozen touchdowns at the Superbowl. To repeat, the great line is: "They're colored fliers."The timing and development that went into this script is not something that can be easily be taught, or automatically learned, in film school. I might even be willing to characterize the script-writer as a genius. The ingenious sense of time and development, in the script, is especially evident in the scene when the 2 fliers land on a country road near a chain gang, and in the scene in the tent when the redneck bomber captain specifically requests the colored squadron.RED TAILS. Okay, now it is May 9, 2014, and yesterday, I watched RED TAILS. RED TAILS and THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN are easily distinguished, as follows: (1) RT is nearly all about combat missions, with nothing about recruitment or training of the pilots. TTA spends about three quarters of its time on recruitment, training, and politics in the U.S. government, with about one quarter on combat; (2) RT contains plenty of phony-looking CG. If TTA does have CG, it is not as blatantly obvious as the phony-looking CG that is found in RT; (3) RT has little in the way of character development, aside from the pilot's relationship with the Italian girl. In contrast, TTA has a huge amount of character development, and almost every person with a speaking line has a well-developed character. In particular, Mr. Lithgow plays a character who you will love to hate; (4) RT has watered-down representations of racism. In contrast, TTA has plenty of overt, in-your-face representations of racism (just as overt as in the movie called "42"). By its intense depiction of racism, TTA is so much the more successful in depiction overcoming racism; (5) RT will provide an amusing two hours, without a boring moment, and once you watch it, there won't be much reason to watch it again. In contrast, TTA will live with you forever, and you will want to watch it repeatedly, perhaps once a year.

This most recent 2012 re-release on DVD of the 1995 HBO presentation is commendable in trying to tell the story of a period of racial separation in America's history where Blacks were denied many of the opportunities that whites took for granted in serving their country during the world's greatest conflict, WWII. Unfortunately, it seems to feel embellishing the truth with outright lies is the best way to do this.Cuba Gooding and Larry Fishburne play pilots in this film, so neither are strangers to the "implied" history of the 332nd Fighter Group, nor the politically correct message of this or the Lucas produced version, "Red Tails" (2012); both of which grossly distort the truth to appease the black community, and do so at the expense of the real heroes of all the other Fighter Groups, who's performances far exceed that of the 332nd.This film closes with full screen print declaring "The 332nd Fighter Group never lost a single bomber to enemy action." This "myth" is a lie; there were many bombers lost in combat and by flak when the 332nd was escorting them. Unfortunately, this deception has continued to be claimed to this day by some of the remaining Tuskegee pilots that still exist, as if they need to prove something at the air shows they appear at a few tents down from the likes of double-Ace Chuck Yeager; and triple-Ace, C.E. "Bud" Anderson, and many other ACES of WWII who still live, write factual books and give factual lectures all over America. The annual Oshkosh International Air Show is one example.A key story line which is repeated in the 2012 Lucas production, "Red Tails," is that the bomber pilots saw the departing fighters flying escort as abandoning them when German fighters appeared, implying they were either incompetent or cowardly for not staying with the bombers to defend them from the Luftwaffe. This is a lie. The FACT is, American fighters were specifically ordered in February of 1944 by Jimmy Doolittle, who'd just taken over command of the Eighth Air Force to "pursue and destroy," because it was proven THAT was the only way to keep the German Fighters from attacking the Bombers.Another distortion is that the 332nd Red Tails flew in formation escort WITH the Bombers, while other Fighter Groups wouldn't do this. This too is a lie. It was tactically too dangerous and never done, because P-51 Mustangs (and the P-47 Thunderbolts) couldn't slow themselves down to the paltry 180mph average speed the B-17s and B-24s usually flew at, without dropping flaps and making unsafe emergency maneuvers to evade or attack if the Fighters got "bounced" by Germans from above -- a common tactic both employed.The best defensive tactics used by the fighter groups to protect the bombers was to fly 10,000 feet above and to the side, so they could bounce down on the Germans. The German pilots had their attack technique down to an art, called "twelve o'clock high" for a reason. This required a wide parallel flying turn into the bombers while flying outside of the bombers deadly .50 cal gun range so they could climb above them, get in front, then dive downward head-on blazing away. Once they completed this "fly through" attack at over 600mph closure to the bombers, usually taking out anything in the first row of ships with ease, they flew beneath, behind, around, then climbed and circled back in front of the bomber formation to do it all over again. So, the P-51s and P-47s were NEVER in formation with Bombers during such defense; and the Bomber pilots never expected it nor requested it, because it wasn't tactically feasible. Their most common "lingering" tactic was to fly zig-zag patterns crisscrossing several thousand feet over the Bombers, until breaking off when Bogies were spotted.There's nothing wrong with telling a story of courage, struggle against prejudice and accomplishment against high odds; all of which is commendable. However, what is not commendable is the never ending distortion of truth so many white producers, actors and directors have signed on to for their own selfish, career advancing motivations to be politically correct in capturing the Black buck at the box office, or making sure they're not ostracized by producers who cater to this "progressive" and indifferent mindset of American history. Obviously, HBO, and writers Robert Williams and T.S. Cook all signed on to this politically correct propaganda film without any regards to insults they bestow in the real heroes of WWII that the Red Tail legacy tries to hijack.The TRUTH is, of all the "Fighter Groups" (FG) of the Mediterranean and European theater during WWII, which each had THREE (3) Squadrons of Fighter aircraft, ONLY the 332nd was comprised of FOUR Squadrons, of 16 aircraft per squadron (plus a half dozen spares). Why does this matter? Because the 332nd was ONE THIRD larger in number of (black) pilots, compared to every other Fighter Group in the Air Force, by its having 64 to 70 aircraft. So the statistics by which "performance" is gauged is inflated by a 1/3 larger force. In spite of this politically correct omission to storytelling that is proffered at the beginning of each film as "based on a true story" -- the performance statistics of the 332nd is at the bottom of ALL the American Fighter Groups.So here are some FACTS for anyone who's interested: The movie may state only 66 pilots were "killed" in the 332nd, but combat losses according to military records show 98. The 332nd Red Tails was "on station" (deployed for combat) for 23.3 months, and flew 1,578 missions, but only had 112 aerial kills. (No "real" pilot counts the ground kills, but those too were shallow.). The 332nd had a Kill to Loss ratio of 1.14. That means for every black pilot that was lost, they killed 1.14 Germans. Another statistic is kills per mission, which the 332nd had 0.07 (zero-point-zero-seven).By comparison, one of the less notable, non-"TV" or "movie" Fighter Groups, the 357th, with only the typical THREE (3) squadrons (48 aircraft, plus spares), was on station for ONLY 14.9 months; flew only 313 missions; yet it had 609 aerial kills (56 on just ONE DAY alone, which is exactly HALF the total kills the 332nd took TWO YEARS to achieve, and stands as a record that has never before or after been touched by any fighter group of any country). The 357th lost 128 aircraft, giving it a Kill to Loss ratio of 4.75; and kills per mission of 1.94, or 27.7 times higher than the 332nd.One of the two companion fighter groups next door to the 332nd, literally, as part of the 15th Air Force in Italy, was the 31st Fighter Group; which was on station for 33.0 months and had 571 kills. The second companion Fighter Group of the 15th Air Force, also next door to the 332nd was the 325th. The 325th FG was on station for 24.7 months; shot down 529 enemy aircraft, and flew 550 missions, and suffered 176 losses, for a kill to loss ratio of 3.0.What's important about the 31st FG and the 325th FG, is they were PART of the SAME mission assignments given out to the 332nd Red Tails, because they were all out of the same Mediterranean theater, and literally only a few miles apart. So anyone who wants to compare the 332nd as being segregated out and not seeing the same duty as the 31st and the 325th Fighter Groups, let alone their joint task force escorts with the Eighth and the Ninth Air Force into Germany, simply doesn't know anymore about history, than they know about the truth of the real Tuskegee "experiment."One last point: The Eighth Air Force's 357th Fighter Group, with 3/4 of the men, fighting for 2/3 the time as the 332nd Red Tails, produced 42 ACES. The companion Fighter Group next door to the 332nd, the 325th -- produced 27 ACES; while the second companion group of the 15th Air Force next door to the 332nd Red Tails -- the 31st Fighter Group -- produced 33 ACES. (An Ace being FIVE kills.)The 332nd Tuskegee Airmen Red Tails, with 33% more pilots and three times more missions, produced "0" ACES. (ZERO!)The dialogue is totally PC with the typical contemporary spin, even in 1995, we've come to expect in placating the black community, none of which is historically correct. This film attempts to tell a more complete story of the Tuskegee origins and struggle than its 2012 Lucas successor, Red Tails, but it is still full of the same old racist burdened Blacks feeling sorry for themselves woven throughout the story line.Markowitz, Price, and script writers Robert Williams and T.S. Cook, should each take a page from the history books of the Greatest Generation, which a small part of is represented by the 357th, 325th, 31st, mentioned above, as well as the 4th, the 55th, the 56th, the 78th, the 339th, the famed 352nd, the 353rd, the 355th, the 356th, the 359th, the 361st, the 364th, the 479th, and the 9th Air Force's 354th and a few others. NONE of the heroes in these Fighter Groups need to stand on a hill, or have Hollywood stand on its hill and yell how great they are, because they are not so insecure of their accomplishments they need to embellish their history with outright lies.If you want to live in Fairy land and cheer for the downtrodden blacks of America, then this "fictional" film, just like "Red Tails," is for you. But it certainly has no place in real history, anymore than it deserves a beginning subtitle proclaiming it is based on a true story; because aside from the name of the Fighter Group, and where it originated from, THIS FILM has very little to do with truth or the real results of the Tuskegee "EXPERIMENT" compared to the kind of performance the Fighter Groups above achieved; none of which needed a politically correct movie made about them to secure their place in history, and all of which are made of the character that ignores those who do.

I bought this on a whim because my grandmother actually wanted another movie, as I know she hadn't heard of the backstory of the people the movie was based on, despite being a southerner herself. She wound up binning the other movie, and this one actually took her down a path of research she didn't expect.Have not watched the movie myself, so I cannot say how close to the history it was based on is, but if it got her shooting off into another voracious information hunt at the library, I'd say it was a good purchase.

They fought for a nation that was prejudiced against them. They were treated even worse than Vietnam veterans by their own country. What is not shown in this movie is how all black veterans earned GI Bill benefits, but most schools would not accept those benefits from people of color. These men overcame so much and kept their heads high and have earned all the respect that a grateful people and nation should show them. We have fallen short. Therefore we must resolve to be better!

This is a movie that will make any patriotic American proud to watch. Whether it was dramatized a bit for movie purposes or if any inaccuracies exist the point is not whether the men were white or black, these were men who served their country with the same level of honor men today serve. It's a movie about those that have enough respect and honor to fight for those of that live under the freedom of that fight

When this movie was produced in 1995 it brought forth a hidden history of African-Americans, the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII. Having this video on our family shelf of movies is the best decision I could have made.

Me gustó mucho... Llegó a tiempo. Un gran contenido fotográfico...

I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. I have heard this story somewhere else, so I thought it would be interesting. And it was, but the movie brought it closer to home. In particular I noticed that they used a book in the movie that I used in my flight training. (Stick and Rudder)

真面目に作られた飛行機映画です。人種差別と戦ったという面がけっこう強い映画です。家のDVDプレーヤーでは再生できませんので、パソコンで見ました。また、音声は英語で字幕も英語で見ることになるので、英語の勉強になるというか・・・ストーリーはすぐに分かるし、セリフの検討も大体つくのですが、大事なところは、一旦、止めないと私では翻訳不十分になります。

Más de lo que esperaba, buscaba cobre y encontré oro

These are men who wanted to fight for their country and were treated like second class citizens, unbelievable.America you have a lot to answer for. There are many more incidents akin to this. Black sailors had to sail on ships that were all black only. What? they were going to make the white sailor dirty.The army was no better with their black only units. It does not matter what color skin you have, you are still a person. These very brave men fought and die just the same as white men and they have to fight a corrupt system as well. That makes them doubly brave two wars at once.