The movie Red Tails came out in the early year of 2012 where it was one of many films inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen. The film takes place during World War II where pilots from squadron 332nd faced the racial and social issues from being apart of the army as people of color. Even as these individuals left their home country to fight for their nation, they also left to change the perspective individuals had of them as they were deemed unfit to be in the army. This was based on the notion where early army policy stated, “Black Americans could not and would not measure up in any technical army field.”1 Nonetheless, this individuals gain the opportunity to be transferred from tactical air duty to real combat issued as air duty escorts for bomber planes (Operation Shingle).2
When it comes to historical accuracy the film does a fairly decent job from the beginning of the film, where the first scene shows the airplanes escorts leaving their post to engage with German fighter airplanes, leaving the bomber airplanes vulnerable to enemy fire. This is an important scene from the film because it shows the contrast and reason to why the Tuskegee Airmen were given the mission Operation Shingle. During the time, pilots would stray from their primary duty to protect the bomber crews by giving them close support in order to go after enemy aircrafts to gain their personal victories. The Tuskegee Airmen squadron did not peel away from their initial task of sticking with the bombers and in doing so lead the bomber planes to where they needed to go. They were since then often called, “Red-tailed Angels”.3
Another scene that displayed a historic even was when one of the pilots asked Major Emaneuel Stance whether what they are doing mattered. He asked this after reading a newspaper article that stated;
“The us of Negroes in the Army Air Corps may be halted. A report has been forwarded calling the performance by Negro pilots unsatisfactory. A plan to assign the Negroes to routine convoy cover may br all that remains for those who seem to have neither intelligence nor the proper reflexes for such a complicated task as fighter pursuit. The great Tuskegee Experiment to also the negro type to fly airplanes has failed.” 4
This is an important scene to show in the film because it shows the doubt and criticism the Tuskegee Airmen faced when they were finally given the opportunity of being in the army in general. From the beginning, when the Tuskegee Airmen were first established they were given hand-me-down airplanes, delayed in training, and given airfields that were barely capable of use for the aircrafts they did have.5 They were given multiple set backs all while being watched and pressured by everyone around them, including the press. The press had very mix reviews of the airmen where most expected them to succeed or fail. News articles reporting variety from how much the Tuskegee Airmen failed their training sessions and compared the number of recruits who originally signed to regular updates on how the squadron’s were doing and their experiences within the program.6
When it comes to the characters of this film, most of these characters are fictional but inspired by real life individuals. For example, Colonel A.J Bullard who is played by actor Terrence Howard was based on Colonel A.J Bullard Oliver Davis Jr.7 Who was was the commander of the 332nd fighter group. Colonel Bullard throughout his career was a strong advocate for his men just like shown in the film. One of the only differences was that Colonel in the film, appeared to have most of his work done on the ground, when in reality he would fly along with his squadron on missions as well.8
When it comes to the other characters of this film, most of them indulge in the common war movie trope where there is the squad leader who doesn’t believe he earned his position and faces the struggles of decision making, a member of the group who is the best at what they do but is cocky and often times destructive, the try-hard character who wants to be more than his past and the character who ironically has comedic liners or has a comedic sense to them. This is one of those film tropes that you almost cannot get away from especially in movie productions that was a variety of characters for the viewers to bond with. Nonetheless, they still offer the sense of inspiration, determination and hardship the Tuskegee Airmen had.
My Video Analysis on the Film Red Tails (2012)
Footnotes
- Haulman, Daniel L. “The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology: A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and Other Black Pilots of World War II.”
- Adolph Caso., and Francis, Charles E. “The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation” 5th ed. Boston Brandon Books, 2008.
- Bos, Carole. “Red Tail Escorts”. Awesomestories.com Site. Accessed November 9, 2022.
- McCallum, Rick., Cha, Johnson F., McGude, Aaron., and Ridley, John.” Red tails” Disney. Disneyplus.com 2012.
- Haulman, Daniel L. “The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology: A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and Other Black Pilots of World War II.”
- Lee, Karen. “Tuskegee Airmen- Topics on Newspapers.” Topics. Newspapers.com, March 2, 2021.
- Adolph Caso., and Francis, Charles E. “The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation” 5th ed. Boston Brandon Books, 2008.
- “General Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr..” Air Force: Biography Display. US Government. 2010.
