Comments on: Red Tails Disappoints

By: John Bucko

John Bucko — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:03:32 +0000

Great comment hitting all the points.. However, one wonders if the pilot dialogue was much different from white pilots as most back men of that era who had education at all were taught to speak good English, unlike the ebonics of today. Perhaps this movie was dialogued down to appeal to black male viewers who would not relate to black men acting ‘white’. Even in the 60′s, my Air Force pilot dad flew with black pilots who could only only barely be audibly discerned from white pilots at parties and gatherings.

By: John Bucko

John Bucko — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:43:44 +0000

Most of the racial hatred-anti Jew internet rethoric these days come from fundamentalist Muslims living in Canada and the US…often the sons of immigrants from Islamic nation war zones, who continue to hear the hate speech at the mosque, even though they are over here, not over there in near Asia.

By: John Bucko

John Bucko — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:34:19 +0000

The P-51 had to fly 600 miles , maybe more one way, so lots of extra fuel and tankage on board, even after dropping the tanks. The 50 caliber MG’s were heavy at 64 lbs each plus feed and mounting + ammo . The FW -190 was a good fighter, but like the Spitfire, it lacked the range and pilots were in the cockpit 2-1/2 hours at most, before landing & refueling for another go round. Also, with the exception of the jet ME 262′s, every German prop fighter in the movie was an ME-109. No FW-190′s noted in the movie. Advanced in 1937, the 109 was current in 1940-43, it was dated by the end of the war aerodynamically and only powerful engines kept its performance close to the Mustang. Like the FW-190, the 109 had limited flight time and used a centerline auxilliary fuel tank to chase bombers across European skies for a couple hundred miles.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:08:26 +0000

I have not yet seen this movie, as going to the movies is just not something my wife and I do. I will look forward to it when it is released on DVD, however.

Steve, I appreciate your review, and the fact that you are able to knock the way the movie was made, while preserving the respect that the Tuskeegee Airmen deserve. And speaking of the Tuskeegee Airmen, one of the guys in my EAA chapter (690) is a professional photographer (www.aerographs.com) who is trying to document the remaining Tuskeegee Airmen before they’re gone. If you know of contact info for any of them, please contact him (or me, and I’ll pass it on).

I am a white male, but my grandchildren are as much black as they are white, and I hope that this movie inspires them. They had their first Young Eagles ride last month, and will be flying again at next week’s event. Asia, the 9 year old, while still climbing out of the Warrior they flew in, exclaimed, “Next time I want to fly in the yellow plane!” pointing at the award-winning Aeronca Champ that was taxiing by, piloted by another of our members with another YE. Her 11 year old brother, Marty, was just as happy in front of MS Flight Simulator and the R/C Airplane Simulator as he was in a plane. I’m not sure if that’s because he was in control rather than in the back seat, or if it is because it is a “video game” (since he has a PSP attached to his hands most of the time).

I’m not yet a pilot, myself, but I hope one day to be, but even more importantly, is that if these children decide that when they get old enough to start flying, I will make sure that they have that opportunity. I would love to be a Sport Pilot Instructor by then, and be able to teach them myself, or even take part in teaching them, but even if I am not, I want them to be able to fly, should that be their dreams. I had already showed them advertisements for the movie well before it was out, and hope that even though it isn’t what we would all like to see in a movie on this subject, that it will be one more thing that will help to inspire them.

Thanks, again, Steve.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:10:41 +0000

I am a pilot, and saw Redtails last night. I was embarrassed for Cuba Gooding as he jammed his pipe in his mouth in almost every scene where he appeared. I am sure he felt the same way, and HE even looked uncomfortable. He accepted the direction of Hemmingway and hoped for the best. It didn’t happen. I have enjoyed his performences in the past, and hoped for the best. It was a letdown.
Terrence Howard, was great!

I almost wanted to scream at the inaccuracies I saw, and hoped this film would be exciting. I was born in 1940, and the WW II pilots of the P-40s, P-47s and P-51s were, and still are my heroes. I hoped that this film would honer them. But it was more like a cartoon characture. By the way, I was a CAP Cadet in high School, and it was one of the highlights of that part of my life.