“ WINGS FOR THIS MAN ” TUSKEGEE AIRMEN 332nd FIGHTER GROUP AFRICAN AMERICAN PILOTS 24814 (1945)
1945 · Short film · 10 min
Synopsis
Wings for this Man” is a 1945 film produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit, narrated by a pre-presidential Ronald Reagan. It promotes and lauds the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black / African American military aviators in the U.S. armed forces, formed during World War II. They formed the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces. The film opens with Bf-109s in the skies (0:25). These are enemy fighters, with the Balkenkreuz insignia of the Luftwaffe (0:28). They are met by American interceptors (0:34), P-47 Thunderbolts or "Jugs" (00:38). The pilots are black Americans (0:43). These are the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter pilots of the then still racially segregated American military (0:51). Not so long ago, these men were students in a university (01:06). Future cadets board a train, each with a large sack (1:19). The steam trains head off to Tuskegee Institute (1:23). The famous Tuskegee Institute lies deep inside Alabama (1:31). Founded on July 4th of 1881, it has graduated many thousands into agriculture (1:44), science (1:46), and industry (1:47). This school was the first of its kind, founded by Booker T. Washington. His statue stands there (1:49), its base inscribed, “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry” (2:02). Nearby, the government built an airfield. Footage of the school (2:10), footage of the construction…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 10 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- 1945
- Tuskegee Airmen
- African American Pilots
- Ronald Reagan
- Stock Footage
