The Tuskegee Airmen
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| The Tuskegee Airmen | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Markowitz |
| Written by | Robert Williams T.S. Cook |
| Starring | Laurence Fishburne Allen Payne Malcolm-Jamal Warner Courtney B. Vance |
| Music by | Ron Goodwin William Walton |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | USA |
The Tuskegee Airmen is a movie about the first African Americans to become combat pilots for the United States Army Air Force. It is based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit that fought in World War II.
[edit] Plot synopsis
The story starts with Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne) getting ready to leave for Tuskegee, Alabama. He is joined by other African American men, from different backgrounds. At the start of their training, they are met by Lt. Glenn (Courtney B. Vance), who joined the Canadian Air Force and became an ace, probably during the Battle of Britain. During training, Walter Peoples III (Allen Payne), who already has a pilots' license, disobeys orders to try to prove himself to the base commander and crashes after blacking out.
Later, the First Lady arrives for an inspection. Hannibal is chosen specifically by her to take her up. The men are eventually deployed to North Africa, as part of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, though they are relegated to ground attack missions. During the campaign, Hannibal's flight encounters a group of Messerschmitt Me 109s. Ignoring Hannibal's orders, Leroy Cappy breaks formation and attacks, downing one of them. Another Me 109 hits Cappy's plane numerous times, causing a fire in the cockpit and fatally wounding him. Hannibal shoots the enemy plane down, but Cappy crashes.
A court is convened in order to determine if the Tuskegee Airmen 'experiment' should be allowed to continue. The Airmen are charged with being incompetent, and a medical study is used to claim that Negroes are incapable of handling complex machinery. The court decides in the Airmen's favor and the 99th Pursuit Squadron joins two new squadrons out of Tuskegee to form the all-black 332nd Fighter Group.
The 332nd is deployed to Ramitelli, Italy to provide escort for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, which are experiencing heavy losses. During this deployment, Hannibal and Billy sink a German destroyer. Billy is shot down, while Hannibal is promoted to captain and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In their next mission, the Tuskegee Airmen are assigned to escort the bombers on a raid on Berlin. As time goes on, the group's reputation grows to the point that a bomber pilot specifically asks for them as escorts, not realizing that the pilots are black.
At the end, the film details the unit's accomplishments: 66 Tuskegee Airmen died in battle, they engaged Me 262s, the first operational jet fighters, and they were awarded over 1000 medals over the course of the war.
[edit] Inaccuracies
The destroyer shown in the film that Hannibal and Billy supposedly sink is actually Japanese, not German.
During their time in North Africa, the real Tuskegee Airmen actually flew P-39 Airacobras, not P-51 Mustangs.
