Real Red Tails, The (2024)

[bunniefuu]

[Harry Stewart]

Isn't that something?

[James Harvey] Yeah, it is.

[Harry Stewart] Boy,

what a small world.

[James Harvey] Everything

had to be perfect.

The instructor gave me a

maneuver to practice until

my next check ride.

I practice, practice, practice

until I got it perfect.

I'm having a birthday

party next year.

[Harry Stewart] The 100th?

[James Harvey] Huh?

- 100?

- Yeah.

[Harry Stewart] You fly along

and the sky is so tranquil.

And then all of

a sudden: bang!

[g*nf*re]

And here's an 88 anti-aircraft

shell that might explode

right next to you.

[James Harvey] Each one of

us wanted to be the best.

You get all those best together.

You've got quite

an organization.

And that's what we had.

[George Hardy] We painted

not only the rudder, but

the whole damn tail red.

And so became known

as the "Red Tails."

And it was just a symbol.

Because people started talking

about, "The Real Red Tails."

[breathing with apparatus]

[splash]

[Narrator] In the

waters of Lake Huron,

lies a P-39 Airacobra

flown during a Tuskegee

training mission in 1944.

[Drew Losinski] Hey there!

[David Losinski]

Please stand by.

[muffled yell].

[Wayne Lusardi] Let me know

when there are 12 there.

[Nicholas Lusardi] I got it.

[DNR Staffer] You ready?

[Wayne Lusardi] You ready?

[Narrator] A recovery team is

piecing together what happened

in these waters all

those years ago.

[Wayne Lusardi] How many

people know that there are

World w*r II assets and

archeological sites in America,

no less in the Great Lakes?

[Narrator] Wayne Lusardi

and Brian Smith...

[Dr. Brian Smith] Gary,

do you want to zip me up?

[Narrator] ...partnered up

six years ago and they've been

dedicated to this unique

chapter of America's

first Black military

airmen ever since.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Bringing

all this back together,

especially in a museum

of the Tuskegee Airmen,

it's going to just

solidify the fact that

these men who were not

treated as equal citizens,

were willing to

give their lives.

I think what's not in

the history books is...

just the blood, sweat,

and tears that the

Tuskegee airmen went through

to fight for their country.

[Narrator] In training

missions alone, 15 young men

lost their lives here

between 1943 and 1944.

[Wayne Lusardi] We have a

sense of urgency to bring the

aircraft up because

of its deterioration,

because of a potential

looting threat.

The clock is definitely ticking.

[propeller ticking]

[Narrator] The plane was piloted

by 22-year-old Frank Moody,

who had already completed

the rigors of the

fledgling Tuskegee program.

[Wayne Lusardi] Recovering

this from the lake bottom is

really going to hopefully

lead to answering a lot of the

questions that we

have about the site.

[Narrator] The Great Lakes

were an advanced training site,

so by the time the

pilots arrived here,

they were already the

cream of the crop.

[Harry Stewart Jr] As a kid,

I used to view the planes

taking off and landing and

fantasizing about myself being

the pilot who's

flying the plane.

So, I think that's what

actually pointed me towards

trying to get into the

aviation field when

World w*r II started.

[Narrator] Training for Tuskegee

pilots on the home front

was difficult and dangerous.

[Harry Stewart Jr] There's

this anxiety, every time you

get in that c*ck, you're

always got it in the back of

your mind the danger

that you're in.

[Dr. Brian Smith] The coastline

here in the Great Lakes was

just like the

coastline in France.

[g*nf*re]

[James Harvey] I didn't

know what to expect.

All this is new to me.

I completed the exam, passed it,

then went off to learn to fly.

[Dr. Brian Smith] So, they

trained here in P-39 aircraft.

They would take off from

Selfridge and fly no more than

50 feet above trees, hills,

mountains, all the way to

Muskegon, turn around and

come back just to

prepare them for combat.

[jazzy music]

[Narrator] At that time,

Selfridge Field would have

been abuzz with

wartime activity.

The 332nd had moved from

Tuskegee, Alabama to Michigan

and was supported by young men

who had volunteered to join

the w*r effort, just

like Frank Moody.

[Wayne Lusardi] He started

working for an aviation

manufacturing company during

the w*r and then ultimately

was able to get a spot at

Tuskegee, where he earned his

wings in February 1944.

[Dr. Brian Smith] He had gone

through the primary training,

the basic training,

the advanced training,

and he was in

combat training here

at Selfridge Air

National Guard Base.

[Matt Delmont] It's important

to remember how young these

men and women were when they

were called into the service,

taking on these

training missions.

Each time you go up, you could

potentially lose your life and

you're training to go to w*r.

[John Harrison] I volunteered

to serve my country and

I'm ready to serve my

country and the w*r.

[Matt Delmont] Their patriotism

was deep and profound

because they not only wanted

to win these military battles,

but they also wanted to

change what America was about.

[Soldier] This isn't

the Army's w*r.

It isn't the Navy's w*r.

It's the w*r of all Americans.

[Narrator] But at the time,

the military didn't see

all Americans as fit

to serve equally.

It took the lobbying of civil

rights activists to force

Congress to alter the

Selective Service Act of 1940.

[Matt Delmont] The

Selective Service Act has

non-discrimination provisions

that are written into it based

on the previous protests

of civil right activists.

That means that Black

Americans can't be excluded

from military service.

[Harry Stewart Jr] Well, I

volunteered at 17, but I was

taken into the service at 18.

At the beginning

of World w*r II,

they had a mandatory for all

able-bodied males between

the ages of 18 and 36

were to register for the draft.

[Draft Officer] What

machines did you operate?

[Draftee] I operated boring

mills, tool grinders,

drill presses, planes.

[Harry Stewart Jr] But most of

the African American soldiers,

even though they did a fine job,

they were segregated

to the point where

they were put into

strictly menial labor.

[Matt Delmont] White military

leaders just didn't believe

that Black Americans had

the intelligence, courage,

bravery, to be able to be

good soldiers, and they,

military leaders wrote that

into the official documentation.

[James Harvey] "According

to the studies, a n*gro was"

barely qualified

for combat duty.

Was by nature subservient,

mentally inferior, and

believed himself to be

inferior to the White man.

Was susceptible to crowd

psychology, cannot control

himself in the face of danger,

and did not have the initiative,

"courage, and resourcefulness

of the White man."

That's what we had

to put up with.

All wrong.

[Lee Archer] I went down

to join the Army Air Corps.

Took the test.

Did very well on it, and after

I had hassled them a bit about

not being called, I was

informed by the military that

I would never be called for

the Army Air Corps because

there were no colored units.

There was never going to be one.

There was no way I could go.

[Narrator] But the Black

activist movement continued

its political

as*ault on Washington

demanding military equality.

[Matt Delmont] And what Black

activists are demanding are

all things related to the w*r:

they want access to defense

industry jobs and they want

specific parts of the military

to be opened up, particularly

things like the Army Air Corps.

The White House, Roosevelt,

and other federal officials

just can't ignore anymore.

[James Harvey] Roosevelt was

running for a third term.

The n*gro press and the NAACP,

they were on the backs of

Congress wanting

something to happen.

And Roosevelt figured that if

he started a fighter squadron,

he'd get the Black

vote, which he did.

And he won.

But all politics; but

it worked out for us.

[Narrator] In January 1941,

the w*r department established

the 99th Pursuit Squadron,

based out of Tuskegee, Alabama.

It was the first segregated

unit within the Army Air Corps.

[President Roosevelt] I'm proud

of what Tuskegee has done.

I don't whether in any

individual institution,

realize how much they are being

watched by the outside world.

[Matt Delmont] They were

trained to be successful

fighter pilots, but they're

also trained to really prove

to the larger military

establishment that

Black Americans

could do this work.

[Narrator] And that's exactly

what Frank Moody was doing as

he advanced through the program.

[Dr. Brian Smith] An airman

would have started out at

Tuskegee and then move

to another base that

specifically focused

on combat training.

And that's why they

came to Selfridge.

They were learning how to come

from over the horizon on the

water to strafe or destroy

radar towers or installation

along the coast.

[Wayne Lusardi] On the morning

of April 11th, 1944, Frank Moody

was flying one of the

most sophisticated

fighter aircraft built

at the time: the P-39.

And did his pre-flight, and

the mission for the day was to

leave early in the morning

and to fly up over Lake Huron,

up the Saint Claire River, and

get out over the Lake Huron

and do some gunnery exercises.

[Dr. Brian Smith]

A P-39 Airacobra.

That's a unique airplane; the

engine was behind the pilot.

It had four 50-caliber

machine g*ns, two of which sat

right on top of the cowling.

In the middle of the airplane,

was a 37-millimeter canon,

which shot a shell that

would destroy tanks.

[Wayne Lusardi] So, four

aircraft, all P-39s,

left Selfridge Field.

Right before 8:00 in the

morning, they came up over

Lake Huron.

They were flying in formation

from south to north.

And when it was Lieutenant

Moody's time, he discharged

his weapons, fired

into the lake.

[g*nf*re]

And then something happened to

the aircraft that resulted in

an almost instantaneous crash

into the water, cartwheeling

of the aircraft,

and he was gone.

He was k*lled immediately

in that accident.

[Narrator] His body was

recovered in 54 days,

but the plane was never found.

Until April 11, 2014,

exactly 70 years to

the date of the crash.

[Narrator] Frank Moody's

P-39 was discovered by

Drew and David Losinski,

a father-son dive team.

[David Losinski] We were diving,

my son and I, and the water

was crystal clear, this was

early in the Spring, I think.

We went out and went

to the first spot.

We figured it was a rock, I

think, and the second spot,

Drew's at the very bow

of the boat looking down;

we're looking, and he goes,

"Dad, I think you found,

we found an airplane!"

And I'm back driving the boat,

and I says, you know

how parents are,

"yeah, sure, okay."

"No, Dad, it's

really an airplane."

[plash, bubbles]

The main thing that we wanted

to do was to find out what the

plane was or how it got

there, whose it was.

We were down swimming,

looking at the wing,

and we dust it off.

You could see the

red position light.

And looking at pictures,

I figured there should be

something, something

painted, so we fanned it off.

And there was a star,

a box with a star.

It means that it's military,

and it's a U.S. military plane.

[Drew Losinski] So later on,

we found out through lots of

research and finding key parts

of the airplane, we got the

radio call number, which we

linked to the accident report,

which told us that we found

that plane 70 years to the

date of when it crashed.

It was pretty unbelievable.

[Wayne Lusardi] The Losinski's

became immediate stewards

of this site.

We started kind of putting

our head together about

what are the options.

Should we leave it in place?

Should we document the entire

wreck site ahead of time?

Should it be recovered

either in part or partially?

[Narrator] Finding Frank

Moody's plane triggered one of

the most important World w*r

II archeological missions in

the Great Lakes.

[Wayne Lusardi] This is the

first airplane that has been

archeologically documented

in the state of Michigan.

We're trying to determine

a cause of the accident;

we're trying to

see how an intact,

very complicated machine,

suddenly breaks apart.

[Narrator] Recovering a plane

that's been underwater for

70 years is no easy task.

It's a multi-year effort,

trying to raise

it piece by piece

and then immediately start

preservation efforts.

And the collaboration with the

Tuskegee Airmen National

Museum has been key.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Frank Moody

and his crash brings to light

the sacrifices that the Airmen

made just to get to combat.

[Narrator] While we don't have

his first-hand accounts from

Frank, we do from

other Tuskegee Airmen.

[Harry Stewart Jr] I remember

that when I went into the

service, the first place

I was assigned to was

Kessler Field, Mississippi,

that being below what they

call the Mason-Dixon Line.

Below that geographical point,

segregation was the law.

It was not a choice,

but a law there.

[Matt Delmont] For Moody

and other Tuskegee pilots,

they're always fighting two

battles at the same time.

They're trained to fight a

military battle, which was

frightening in its own right,

but they're also fighting a

battle against racism,

a battle against

second-class citizenship.

[James Harvey] We got

to Washington D.C.

a little early, so I got

off the train, went and had

breakfast, came back, went

to get in the car I was in,

conductor says, no, no, no, no.

You ride in the car

where Negroes ride.

So, that was my introduction

to segregation and the South.

[Matt Delmont] So, if you're

trying to think of a welcoming

place to train Black troops,

Alabama in the 1940s wouldn't

be the first place that

you would think of.

One of the challenges at

Tuskegee Air Base was that it

was a Jim Crow base in a Jim

Crow city in a Jim Crow state,

and that shaped almost every

aspect of what training was

like for these Black pilots.

[James Harvey] I

didn't go to town.

I stayed on the

base the whole time.

You get into trouble

going into town.

Now, down at Tuskegee, one

of the guys went into town,

and the Sheriff told him, if

I ever catch you back in town,

I'll blow your brains out.

[Matt Delmont] The Tuskegee

Airmen had to channel their

frustration, their anger, into

their military performance.

[Harry Stewart Jr] My heart

must have skipped a couple of

beats and that type of thing,

but I guess it was more with

joy than anything else.

I took off, and as soon as

I broke grounds, I just felt

this exhilaration; I've done

it, I've done it, I've done it!

[plane engine rumbling]

[triumphant music]

[Narrator] Despite their

excellence, the military and

the public were not on board,

so the NAACP and the

Black press doubled down.

[Matt Delmont] The Black

press understood themselves

as a fighting press.

And the thing they were

fighting for in the lead up to

World w*r II and then during

World w*r II was to make sure

Black Americans had a chance

to be able to serve their

country equally.

[Narrator] This relentless

advocacy laid the foundation

for an innovative initiative:

the Double Victory Campaign.

[Matt Delmont] The Double

V Campaign, is really the

rallying cry for Black

Americans during the w*r.

It's launched by the

Pittsburgh Courier.

What they're calling for is

a victory over fascism abroad

and victory over racism at home.

[Narrator] Eleanor Roosevelt

lent her powerful voice to the

fight early on.

[Newsreel Narrator] Everything

Eleanor Roosevelt says and

does becomes news.

[James Harvey] Well, she had

always heard that Negroes

could not fly airplanes,

so she went to Tuskegee,

and she rode with a guy

we call "Chief" Anderson.

And she found out

we can fly airplanes

just like anybody else.

So, when they took the picture

of she and Chief Anderson in

the airplane and it was

in all the newspapers

throughout the country.

That sealed the

deal right there.

Yes, they can fly just

like anybody else.

As a matter of fact,

they can fly better.

[laughs]

Just ask me.

[Narrator] In 1942, the first

class of cadets graduated from

Tuskegee Army Airfield.

[Harry Stewart Jr] One of the

most fantastic days in my life

there that I can never forget.

But it was graduation day, and

just before going up and being

presented my wings and

my bars, as I said,

"I think I've done it!"

[George Hardy] Yes,

it was a special day.

We succeeded in the training

and got our wings and now

we're commissioned as an

actual Second Lieutenant in

the United States Army.

And in July, a year before,

I was just getting

into the service.

And now I'm a pilot.

I can fly airplanes.

[Narrator] But the

risks were great.

Nearly 15,000 servicemen died

during training exercises

in the United States alone.

[somber music]

Today, the archeological quest

to understand what happened to

Frank Moody is in

its tenth year.

[Wayne Lusardi] According to

the U.S. Army accident report,

the other three pilots

that were in formation

with Lieutenant Frank

Moody, two of them

reported seeing fragments

coming off of the aircraft,

near the forward fuselage.

It's always a possibility

that there's some kind of

mechanical problem

with the aircraft.

[Dr. Brian Smith] The airplane

started to shake apart,

and he lost control.

The airplane nosed into

the lake, Lake Huron.

[Wayne Lusardi] The Army,

because they never found the

airplane, really never came

to any conclusions as to

what caused the accident.

[Narrator] When the team

started exploring the site in

2015, they had to figure

out the best way to recover

all of the parts.

[Wayne Lusardi] Looking at

a vastly scattered airplane

has been a challenge.

It became very overwhelming.

It's like, okay, well, how

are we going to do this?

The ultimate goal of this

project is to bring the

aircraft up in its entirety.

Nick, you have the go-pro?

[Nicholas Lusardi] Yep.

[splashing]

[splashing]

[Wayne Lusardi]

The site is broken.

It's highly disarticulated.

You had and airplane that was

roughly 30 feet in length and

about a 32-foot wingspan that

is now in literally thousands

of pieces across the lake floor.

[g*nf*re]

[David Losinski] Gimme

that knife for the cable.

[Drew Losinski]

Alright. Winch up.

[radio chatter]

[Dr. Brian Smith] We got this

humongous propeller blade

with the gearbox.

[David Losinski] I say stop.

Cool!

[Wayne Lusardi] The accident

report suggested that

something may have happened

up forward in the fuselage,

and that could have

been a propeller issue.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Of

course, I was imagining

the whole airplane.

[Wayne Lusardi] That's exactly

what I was thinking too.

The remarkable thing is

how far apart they all are.

You know, this one was 500

feet beyond, or the single

blade was 500 feet north,

and the other one was

1,200 feet to the south of it.

[Dr. Brian Smith] This is maybe

the last piece in the puzzle

of why the airplane went down.

It's, so far, you know,

up until this point,

it's just been unexplainable.

It's about 70-some

years and, wow.

[Wayne Lusardi] Yeah,

it's pretty crazy.

[somber music]

[Narrator] By the time

Frank Moody was flying his

training missions,

Tuskegee Airmen had

been in the European

theater for over a year.

[military music]

[Newsreel Narrator] Wing

cameras, synchronized with

blazing g*ns, record dramatic

evidence of n*zi planes

blasted from the skies.

[g*nf*re]

[Lee Archer] I never thought

about air-to-air combat as

a big problem.

[g*nf*re]

I looked for it.

I'd be flying along, "oh, I hope

we get some enemy aircraft."

I thought about that is

a duel between two men.

I believed that I was a

competent pilot, and I knew in

my mind that I was.

[g*nf*re]

[Narrator] Lee Archer

flew under the command of

Benjamin O. Davis, Junior.

[Matt Delmont] Davis is

one of the amazing figures

from World w*r II.

He graduates from

West Point in 1936.

He's the first Black person

to graduate from West Point

in the 20th century,

only the fourth overall.

It's only with the Tuskegee

Experiment getting started

that he has the opportunity to

pursue his lifelong dream of

becoming a pilot.

[James Harvey] He was

a no-nonsense guy.

Everything had to be done right.

And you can't

knock him for that.

That's the way things should

be no matter what you do,

you do it right.

And he was our commander.

[William Holloman] He made

a military man out of me.

I think that he

taught us discipline.

And he always tried to

encourage us to improve

ourselves because he said,

"America's watching you."

[drone whirring]

[Wayne Lusardi] Today

is a really big deal.

It's a major piece

of the puzzle.

It's going to tell us a lot

about the airplane and what

was going on with it when

Lieutenant Moody crashed here.

[splash]

[Dr. Brian Smith] It's

really murky down there.

I thought it would be

better today because

it's sunny and calm.

I think yesterday just

stirred everything up.

[David Losinski] We're

still waiting on straps, ok?

[David Losinski] Ok.

[David Losinski] Do

not move the cable.

Very good. Good.

[Dr. Brian Smith] In a few

minutes we're going to see

Alison engine coming up

that powered the P-39 that

Frank Moody was flying.

I can't wait.

[David Losinski] I got

[inaudible] that the cradle's

going to be the way.

[Dr. Brian Smith] I'm

seeing the airbag.

The crane hook is coming up.

There it is!

About two feet underwater and

it hasn't been this this high

since 1944, April 11th.

Yeah, you can stop right there.

The bolts are underneath.

Good work Wayne!

[David Losinski]

Pretty smooth!

Congratulations!

[chatter].

[Wayne Lusardi] Piece by

piece airplane's coming up.

[Dr. Brian Smith] I don't

have the words to express.

[Wayne Lusardi] Probably the

heaviest single component of

the aircraft.

So, very cool, it's really

going to start to teach us

a lot about this airplane.

[Dr. Brian Smith]

Getting it back to the

Tuskegee Airmen National

Museum in Detroit

will start the

conservation process.

Having the engine, the

propeller, the gearbox,

all of that to examine from

a forensics side will help us

determine what was the

cause of the accident.

[David Losinski]

Are we good to good?

Alright.

[Wayne Lusardi] Now, we have

to transport it to shore.

We've got to get it off of

this barge, move it onto a

flatbed vehicle, and

then transport it to the

conservation

laboratory in Detroit.

[Dr. Brian Smith] We do need

to move the water machine.

[Wayne Lusardi] Are

you pumping currently?

[!sis Gillespie] No.

- No.

- Ok.

- We just turned it off.

- Ok.

[Dr. Brian Smith]

Ready for the engine?

- We got it.

- I got it.

[Dr. Brian Smith] You go

up, just a little bit.

Alright, hold.

[beeping]

[Wayne Lusardi]

Alright, nice and slow.

[!sis Gillespie] Nice.

[Wayne Lusardi] The laying out

the plane like this today is

an incredible visual

opportunity to get a feel

for how big this airplane is.

It's hard to imagine it when

you're underwater looking at

just a little piece here and

a little piece there and it's

pretty impressive to

kind of see it like this.

This is the first time these

artifacts have come together

in this orientation since

the airplane went apart

79 years ago.

This is the artifact that

designed this entire airplane:

the 37-millimeter cannon.

It was mounted at the nose.

It was also armed with

50-caliber machine g*ns

on either side.

And so with all of this stuff

up in the forward fuselage,

it was no room for the engine.

So, the engine went

back behind the pilot.

And that was a very unique

situation for a single-seat

fighter aircraft at that time.

[Dr. Brian Smith] It gives me

pause to think this big, massive

1200-pound engine, would

actually fly in an airplane.

[Narrator] But the P-39's

had their limitations;

they performed best

at lower altitudes,

better for strafing.

[g*nf*re]

[Lee Archer] They needed

airplanes that would go

further, and they got the 51.

It could go further.

It could go higher.

It could fly longer.

It could turn better.

It had all of the agile

traits of a fighter.

[Harry Stewart Jr] When I got

in the P-51 and I took it off,

I fell in love with it,

the first time I flew it.

It was such a beautifully

handling aircraft.

[Matt Delmont] The Tuskegee

pilots had a very specific

role in combat.

Their job was to

accompany bombers on these

targeted bombing runs.

[Newsreel Narrator] Huge

fleets of allied bombers

protected by umbrellas of

fighter planes, continue their

all-out offensive upon

n*zi w*r plants in Europe.

[whistling]

[James Harvey] The White

fighter groups, they were

averaging 46 bombers

lost per mission.

Per mission.

That's a lot of people.

A lot of people.

That's why we got the

job of escorting bombers.

[George Hardy] Colonel Davis

said, "don't leave the bombers."

If that German fighter leaves,

let him go and you stick with

the bombers.

There's ten men on each b*mber

airplane, only one man in that

German fighter.

We want to protect the

bombers and bring those home.

[Harold Brown] When we first

started flying with them,

they knew that there was a new

fighter group that had joined:

the Red Tails.

They said who are these guys

flying these damn Red Tails?

These guys are with

us all the way.

By the way, who are these guys?

[Matt Delmont] One of the

things that happens after the

Tuskegee Airmen get into

combat is they start to

receive media attention, not

just from Black newspapers,

but now from

national newspapers.

They say that they've

mastered the art of aviation,

that they're squashing

Hitler's Aces like bugs.

[g*nf*re]

[James Harvey] It got to

the point where they were

requesting us.

They wanted us.

They didn't believe we were

flying airplanes when we got

over there, because the book

said "no, they can't do that."

[Newsreel Narrator] On a

bombing mission over enemy

territory, a fighter escort

is a mighty comforting sight.

This man thought it

was plenty good enough.

As far as he was concerned,

this man could fly tough cover

for him any day.

[Harry Stewart Jr] When I

was escorting the bombers,

there were White guys

in these planes here,

they were just Americans there.

We were all on the same team.

That's what they were, and I

never looked at them as being

White or anything else.

We were just team members.

[Narrator] After their

many successes in Europe,

the Tuskegee Airmen

were unstoppable.

[James Harvey] Now, you

may ask, who was the best?

Depends on who's

telling the story!

[laughs]

Right now, I am!

[laughs]

[celebratory music]

[Newsreel Narrator] Throughout

the world, throngs of people

hail the end of

the w*r in Europe.

[Matt Delmont] Victory Over

Europe Day was a time of

jubilation for Black Americans.

[President Truman] The whole

world must be cleansed of the

evil from which half the

world has been freed.

[Matt Delmont] The hope that

with the w*r over, they will

finally be able to come back

to the United States and start

to see some of what they

fought for come into reality.

[William Holloman] I remember

this for the rest of my life:

we were coming down the

gangplank, getting off the

boat, they had a sign at

the bottom of the gangplank:

Whites to one side.

Colored to the other side.

And I said to myself,

"This is some country."

[Narrator] After the w*r, the

Tuskegee pilots returned to

segregated units, but

their successes in Europe

served as a rallying

cry for change.

[Matt Delmont] One of the

first and most important

civil rights milestones after

the w*r was the signing of

Executive Order 9981.

[Newsreel Narrator] By

Executive Order of President

Harry S. Truman: integration

of all military units.

It will take time, but the

policy was established.

[Harold Brown] The more

I thought about it,

we really did something special.

If we had not been as

successful as we were, there is

no way that Truman would

have possibly made that move.

[Matt Delmont] So, the

military becomes integrated

before most of corporate

America, before most of

higher education does.

And so, it really provides one

of the building blocks for the

larger success of the

Civil Right Movement

in the 1950s and 60s.

One of the troubling things

that happens at the end of

World w*r II is that the first

wave of books that come out

about the w*r,

really write Black

Americans out of the story.

That's why it took so

long before the service,

the patriotism, the tremendous

successes, and path-breaking

work of the Tuskegee Airmen

to come to the forefront.

[Narrator] Now, Frank

Moody's recovered P-39...

[Wayne Lusardi] Hey,

we'll swing around.

[Narrator] Is adding a new

chapter to the Airmen's stories.

[Dr. Brian Smith] It's amazing

that this g*n isn't bent.

[Wayne Lusardi] When we start

to look at this and when we

have this all kind of laid out

here, we're starting to see a

lot of damage that happened

in the propeller blades.

And you might think that

that's just a rock hole or

something that was damage as

this artifact was sitting on

the lake floor for the last

eight decades, but when you

start looking at the other two

blades and they have identical

holes in them, suddenly we're

starting to see something

here; a major problem that's

going on with this aircraft.

[Dr. Brian Smith]

gone to dance class and

danced with a partner,

you don't want to

step on their toes.

So, you would synchronize

your steps, so that you always

miss each other's feet.

And this airplane had a

synchronizer or an interrupter

in the hub, which knew where

the propeller blade was and

would stop this g*n from

firing when the blade was

in front of the g*n.

[Wayne Lusardi] In in a sense,

the pilot's not actually

sh**ting the g*n.

He's pulling the trigger, but

then the airplane's deciding,

right here, when that

g*n is actually firing.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Yes.

[Wayne Lusardi] When Lieutenant

Moody pulled the trigger,

the g*ns fired into the

propeller blades and

they created an entry

hole and an exit wound.

And that's the same,

very consistent,

on all three of these blades.

[Dr. Brian Smith] If it was

Frank Moody's fault, you know,

due to pilot error or a

collision with another aircraft,

we would see other damage,

especially in these blades

that we're not seeing.

[Narrator] The proof found

in these blades serve as a

testament to Frank Moody and

his extraordinary journey.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Amazing!

[Narrator] In the end, it

was the mechanical system

that failed him.

[Dr. Brian Smith] Now we can

chronicle, highlight, and

talk about his life and the

importance of his life toward

the w*r effort, toward

fighting the Germans.

[Matt Delmont] Artifacts like

the plane help us make those

jumps between scale in terms

of how we talk about history.

Frank Moody's story is one

piece of the puzzle that helps

to fill in our larger

understanding of what America

was like during World w*r II.

And more than anything, it

gives us an opportunity to

help honor the service

and sacrifices of

those Black veterans.

[Narrator] For years the

Tuskegee Airmen pushed the

boundaries of what was possible,

distinguishing

themselves in the air,

while breaking barriers for

Black Americans everywhere.

[Matt Delmont] One of the

through lines in Black history

is Black people having to

prove they could do things

other people doubt

that they could do.

[James Harvey] Outside, the

next day, then it all came back.

Everything we did

had to be perfect.

Everything had to be perfect.

That helped us and

made us better pilots.

That's why we were so good.

What can I say?

[laughs]

They were trying to

take us down the drain,

and we said, no, no, no.

[George Hardy] Well, it's a

matter that we prove them wrong

that we could do a job and

that's about all you can do.

But they'll always be

some doubting Thomases,

but we did the best we could.

[Harry Stewart Jr]

Well, that's it.

That's it, we proved it.

And that hangs on you when you

feel as though that every day

you have something to prove.

[James Harvey] We showed

them that yes, we can think.

We can think under pressure,

we can think all the time.

We know how to do the job and

get the job done, done right.

[Harry Stewart Jr] I'm in

the mood to fly that Cessna

right now, you want

to go up with me?

[James Harvey] Ok.

If I can get in!

[laughs]

That's my problem!

[laughs]

[Harry Stewart Jr] Ok!