Red Tails: An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen

by John B. Holway

Official source for the major motion picture from Executive Producer George Lucas!
The first group of African-American pilots in the history of the U.S. military, the Tuskegee Airmen had to battle discrimination at home before they could join the fight abroad. Trained at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, they overcame racial bias during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the Army Air Corps. The pilots of the 332nd made their reputation escorting B-17s and B-24s on long bombing runs over Central Europe. Nicknamed "Red Tails" for the crimson tips of their P-51 Mustang fighters, the airmen were also known as the "Red-Tailed Angels" by their admiring bomber crews.
Based on extensive interviews with members of the Tuskegee Airmen, this inspiring book offers insights into the prejudices the Red Tails had to overcome and recaptures the drama of wartime service. As veteran Charles McGee noted, "The story of the Tuskegee Airmen isn't a black story, it's an American history story, and the youth of America need to know about it." The primary source for the George Lucas film, Red Tails, this volume includes sixteen pages of historic black-and-white photographs and was praised by Library Journal as "an important addition to any African-American history and/or military studies collection."  

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Aviation, World War II, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2011

Reviews

[Jim Mackell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author collected an enormous amount of oral history regarding the Red Tails and the extreme hatred that they received from the Army establishment. Many of the individual stories are fascinating. However the presentation of these histories is lacking. Grammatical errors are present on almost every page, stories are repeated in different chapters, and overall there is an obvious lack of any editing. This is NOT in any way to detract from the individual courage each and every one of the Red Tails showed.

[Karl Tenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such courageous men. I always knew the red tails were brave but I didn’t know the extent of the battle they fought. That they faced so much discrimination at home is a shame. I’m so glad most of that is in the past. I wish I could tell each one of these men Thank You in person.

[Jared Della Rocca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two genres that this project has really helped me explore are history (both non-fiction and "semi-fiction"), and the difficulties faced by African Americans in our society. As a subset of the second genre, I've also read about some of the successes in our society attributable to African Americans, whether they intended to contribute or not. Under the general history genre, there's been Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, Dispatches by Michael Herr, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, and Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne, amongst others. Under African Americans in society, there's been Another Country by James Baldwin, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, To Die For the People by Huey Newton, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Red Tails adds to that list of unacclaimed service to America. To not only volunteer for war, but to enter into the most dangerous of missions, and do so knowing that upon return you won't be congratulated or even accepted, but continue to face racism and discrimination FROM THE ORGANIZATION TO WHICH YOU ARE DEDICATING YOUR LIFE! It's incredible not only that they chose to do so in the first place, but continued to run these missions. It speaks to the character of each of these men.

And this oral history bears it all out. It lacks a certain narrative because they are individual stories, but the overall effect is very powerful.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by John B. Holway, Red Tails: An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen is a book of the African American Airforce units that fought in World War Two. The book details the 99th 141st and other squadrons missions and hardships. The book uses extensive interview with the Red Tail Pilots as the basis for the book. The book was also used as a reference for the film Red Tails by George Lucas.

Red Tails : An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen is a fantastic book. It retells war stories in a way that I have never seen before. The voices of the pilots come alive in such a way that you become awed by what you read. However the book takes on a darker tone to express how the pilots felt about the segregation in the US military. There is some swearing and a few instances where the pilots acknowledge the existence of sex but overall the book is absolutely fantastic.

All in all Red Tails : An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen is amazing. The world of WW2 that it sucks you into really brings the history to life. A few swear here and there might not make this the best book for children but for any historian interested in reading more about the Tuskegee Airmen, this is the go to source. I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often, unit histories like this can be very tedious. But the oral history aspect of this particular book made it far more interesting. Autobiographical words are almost always more interesting than an author's adaptation of them, and in this case they are fascinating. Particularly the parts dealing with the racism encountered inside the Army, and at home.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It is filled with grammatical errors, and that is distracting. Perhaps the editor or typesetter was distracted, too. The story is good and should be told. Very interesting history.

[Danny Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, full of great stories and details. I guess I was expecting more of a narrative along with the oral history, more in the vein of Anthony Beevor or Stephen Ambrose. But still, I liked it and I learned at lot about a bunch of heros I never knew existed!

[Kay Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so interested in the subject matter, but I found the presentation of the information in the book to be confusing, and the story flat. :(