National Geographic special tracks recovery of Tuskegee Airman's plane from Lake Huron

On April 11, 1944, a young Tuskegee Airman, 22-year-old Frank Moody from Los Angeles, was on a training mission from Selfridge Air Base when something caused his plane to crash into the waters of Lake Huron.

Though Moody’s body was found roughly two months later, the P-39 Airacobra that he was flying remained undiscovered near Port Huron for decades. Then, 70 years to the day of the accident, a father-son dive team came across part of the aircraft 

The quest to find out why Moody’s plane crashed is explored June 3 by National Geographic’s “The Real Red Tails,” which also honors the Black military pilots who fought racism at home and fascism abroad during World War II.

Narrated by Sheryl Lee Ralph of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” the hourlong documentary gives a history of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-Black fighter squadron in the United States. Nicknamed the Red Tails, they played a crucial role in defeating Hitler and preserving democracy in America.

“The Real Red Tails” features diving footage from the archaeological mission to recover the P-39, along with extensive interviews with Dr. Brian Smith, president and CEO of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum at Detroit’s Coleman A. Young International  Airport, and Wayne Lusardi, who is Michigan's state maritime archaeologist.

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As viewers learn about the modern-day story, they’re also given a gripping overview of what the Tuskegee men had to endure in order to prove their excellence as military pilots. Several former airmen, including Lt. Col. (Ret.) Harry T. Stewart Jr. and Lt. Col. (Ret.) James H. Harvey, share their memories, many of them vivid accounts of the discrimination they experienced as they strived to serve their country.

Although the Tuskegee Airmen achieved a legacy of bravery and excellence in combat, U.S. military leaders were reluctant to give Black service members a chance to do more than menial tasks. “The Real Red Tails” traces how Black activists had to lobby for more significant roles on the battlefield. Their efforts, coupled with President Franklin Roosevelt’s need to win the support of Black voters for re-election, led FDR to activate in 1941 what would become the pilot program for the Tuskegee Airmen.

Harvey remembers arriving in Washington, D.C., after enlisting for the program and leaving his train to grab some lunch. When he returned, he remembers, “The conductor said: ‘No, no, no no. You ride in the car where Negroes ride.’ That was my introduction to segregation and the South.”

After their initial training in Tuskegee, Alabama, the pilots would be sent to what was then called the Selfridge Army Airfield, which was in Harrison Township near Mt. Clemens, to learn skills necessary for combat missions and to fly operational aircraft, not training planes, as the documentary details. In the 1940s, it was a dangerous process. Willing to give their lives for their nation but not treated as equal citizens, the Tuskegee Airmen lost 15 men, including Moody, during the training done in Michigan.

The documentary shows how the Double V campaign, as it was called, became a rallying cry for Black Americans seeking a victory abroad against Hitler’s forces and at home against racism. While the Tuskegee Airmen returned after the war to the same ugly discrimination, their impressive record at tasks like escorting bomber runs was a key reason that President Harry Truman signed the executive order in 1948 that integrated the military.

As the contemporary mission to find out what happened to Moody’s plane locates key pieces of the puzzle, the documentary provides context on the lengthy wait for proper recognition of what the Tuskegee Airmen accomplished. Initially, they were left out of history books. Today, the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum and other groups continue to amplify just how important they were to the victory against Hitler’s forces.

More:80 years ago, Tuskegee Airmen trained at Selfridge Airfield to fly in World War II

As the Free Press chronicled earlier this year in a story on Michigan’s ties to the Tuskegee Airmen: “Nearly a thousand men flew for the 332nd Fighter Group and the 447th Bombardment Group. … The 332nd Fighter Group set an unprecedented record flying 200 of their 205 bomber escort missions without losing a bomber to enemy aircraft, earning them over 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses and a Presidential Unit Citation, as well as the claim 'Never Lost a Bomber.'"

In advance of the documentary's premiere on cable, Detroit’s Tuskegee Airman National Historical Museum is hosting a free screening of "The Real Red Tails" at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Bel Air Luxury Cinema on Detroit's east side. A panel discussion will follow the screening featuring Smith, Lusardi and Andrea Williams, president of the National Association of Black Divers. 

The recovered plane eventually will be exhibited at Detroit’s Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, which teaches young people about the past and the potential for their own future in aviation.  

“We believe that if you can see a career, you can do the career or be the career, says Smith by phone. “The Tuskegee Airmen still today allow us to see African Americans’ excellence in the face of danger, under the shadow of segregation and racism.”

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie HInds at jhinds@freepress.com.

'The Real Red Tails'

8 p.m. June 3

National Geographic (streams next day on Disney+ and Hulu)

Free local screening at 7 p.m. May 30

Bel Air Luxury Cinema

10100 Eight Mile Road, Detroit