The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) on Netflix
PG-1319951h 46mDramaHistoryWar
In 1942, Hannibal Lee and other African American cadets report to Tuskegee, Alabama, for Army flight training. Their director of training, Major Sherman Joy, considers them unfit for the job.
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- IMDb7.1/107,913 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
With the United States at war, the Army Air Corps opens a flight program at Tuskegee, Alabama, for African American cadets, among them Hannibal Lee, Billy Roberts, Leroy Cappy, Walter Peoples III and Lewis Johns. Colonel Noel Rogers commands the base; Major Sherman Joy runs the training and makes clear he sees no future for Black pilots. Second Lieutenant Glenn, a Black pilot who flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force, is the only officer on base with combat experience. Joy orders the cadets to retake the entrance flight exam, intending to show they never earned their places. The cadets pass, and move into practical flying. Senator Conyers and others in Washington would be glad to see the experiment shut down.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- HBO invested a reputed $8.5 million in the production, the largest investment in a telefilm project to date, in a push for historical accuracy.
- First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's 1941 visit to Tuskegee Army Air Field was drawn from real events: she insisted on flying with C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson, the first African American to earn a pilot's license and the first flight instructor of the Civilian Pilot Training Program at the Tuskegee Institute.
- The film's closing credits claim the 332nd never lost a bomber to enemy fighters; the claim, repeated for years because of the airmen's esteem, was later disproved by Air Force records and eyewitness accounts showing at least 25 bombers lost to enemy fire.
- To make the airfields look busier, the producers borrowed a technique from Memphis Belle, using cutout silhouettes of aircraft so that more parked planes appeared on screen.
- In one barracks scene, Hannibal Lee Jr. sings "Straighten up..." and Billy Roberts finishes "...and fly right", a catchphrase taken from the 1944 top-40 hit "Straighten Up and Fly Right" by the King Cole Trio led by Nat King Cole.
