Wings for This Man

1945 propaganda film

Wings for This Man

Produced by	First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces
Narrated by	Ronald Reagan
Release date	1945
Running time	10 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Wings for this Man is a propaganda film produced in 1945 by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first unit of African-American pilots in the US military formed during World War II.

The film begins with dramatic footage of aerial combat over Italy, showing an outnumbered American squadron successfully dogfighting a Luftwaffe formation. When the pilots land they step out and are revealed to be black.

The picture then tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, starting with the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and the founding of the airstrip near it. The narrator, future President Ronald Reagan, notes that the airmen had to overcome exceeding odds to get the unit created and notes that "there was misunderstanding, distrust and prejudice that had to be cleared away" before the unit could form. A rather standard training/combat/casualty sequence then follows, culminating in the third anniversary celebration of the unit followed by a parade.

External links

Wings For This Man on YouTube
Wings for This Man at IMDb
The short film Wings for This Man is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.

Tuskegee Airmen

Units

99th Fighter Squadron
100th Fighter Squadron
301st Fighter Squadron
302nd Fighter Squadron
332d Fighter Group
477th Bomber Group

Air fields

Pilots
and crew

Incidents

Freeman Field mutiny

Aircraft

Media

Fictional films	The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) Hart's War (2002) Red Tails (2012)
Documentaries	Flight of the Red Tail (2009) Red Tail Reborn (2007) Wings for This Man
Other	Fly (play) Henry Browne, Farmer "Wingmen"