History Film / RedTails

** Sadly averted with the unit insignia, both USAAF and Luftwaffe. The red tail markings belonged to 8th Air Force, which operated from Britain. The yellow nose belonged to JG26 at Channel front. One of the planes is shown to bear [[NazisWithGnarlyWeapons 3rd Waffen-SS ''infantry'' division]] insignia. The swastikas are in all cases of wrong shape and on completely wrong place on tailplanes. and finally, Pretty Boy's kill tally is shown under the cockpit, while the German custom was to paint [[NoseArt the kill tally on the fin]].

* MadeOfExplodihttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/wysiwyg_source_editor.php?groupname=Film&title=RedTails&load=sourceum: Pretty much the whole MOVIE is made of this. Nothing simply hits the ground or stops working; everything goes boom in spectacular fashion, even the famously hearty B-17 bombers.

* MadeOfExplodium: Pretty much the whole MOVIE is made of this. Nothing simply hits the ground or stops working; everything goes boom in spectacular fashion, even the famously hearty B-17 bombers.

** Relatively minor case: The squadron is shown transitioning to P-51D Mustangs, when in RealLife, they had transitioned to the rather less iconic P-51C model. The most visible difference being the P-51C having a more traditional canopy rather than the D model's "Bubble" canopy.
*** The 332d flew P-51Ds in 1944 after having flown Cs, so it could be just a case of the creators not bothering to show the latter as well as the other two models (P-39 and P-47) not shown in the film.

** And {{subverted}} in the very next scene, with four of the 332d Fighter Group's fighters on patrol, with one of the pilots complaining that what they are doing is ''boring'' as hell.

** The real Me-262 carried four 30mm Mk-108 cannons. [[spoiler:Lightning's death getting riddled with small-caliber bullets]] would realistically have looked more like a gigantic fireball caused by the hail of 330-gram explosive-incendiary bullets blowing his engine to bits. See RuleOfDrama: the imagery of him bleeding out in his cockpit as he spirals to a crash has more impact.

* CreatorKiller: The financial flop of this film was a major motivator in George Lucas selling Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Corporation. The film financially failed so badly that Lucasfilm would have to have major downsizing, and Lucas thought by selling the company to Disney he'd save the jobs of Lucasfilm employees.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Two Tuskegee airmen really did successfully attack a German-crewed torpedo boat: ''[=TA22=]'', formerly the Italian UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era ''Rosolino Pilo''-class destroyer ''Giuseppe Missori'' which was seized and refitted by the ''Kriegsmarine'' after Mussolini's overthrow. However, the scene depicting this action has a '''TREMENDOUS''' problem: the ship that the studio chose to include as the "destroyer" isn't a destroyer, it's a ''Vittorio Veneto''-class battleship. Two [=P-51s=] making strafing runs could very well be catastrophic for a torpedo boat (as it was for ''[=TA22=]'': she made it back to port but was judged damaged beyond repair and scrapped), but would be mildly annoying at best for the battleship.

* PrecisionFStrike : The line that causes Lightning to start a bar fight, "go home nigger," is left unaltered when the movies is shown on cable TV.

* RedAlert: The Luftwaffe airfield when Pretty Boy reports that he is ComingInHot, pursued by four American fighter planes.
** The FighterLaunchingSequence barely has a chance to get started before the American pilots lay waste to the place. Two planes [[SittingDuck barely make it into the air]] before getting shot down.

A 2012 Action Drama film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in WorldWarII. This is the first feature film to be produced by Lucasfilm since 2008, as well as being its last independently made film before being bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] 9 months after this film was released.

* AnAesop: Put your duties and responsibilities to others before your own desires. Also, the more obvious aesops about the need to overcome racial predjudice and overcoming adversity.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Two Tuskegee airmen really did sink a German-crewed Italian torpedo boat[[note]]When the Italians overthrew Mussolini and surrendered in 1943, many Italian warships were seized by the Germans and manned with ''Kriegsmarine'' crews[[/note]], however, the scene depicting this action has a '''TREMENDOUS''' problem: the ship that the studio chose to include as the "destroyer" isn't a destroyer, it's a ''Vittorio Veneto''-class battleship. Two [=P-51s=] making strafing runs could very well be catastrophic for a torpedo boat (as it was for the real torpedo boat they sunk), but would be mildly annoying at best for the battleship.

*** The third tactic, which was to use the Mustang's superior endurance to stooge around until you could catch an Me262 taking off or landing, was not shown as it would make for a really boring movie.

** We get a shot of the American fighters taking off in the distance, [[ANewHope as a pair of onlookers watch from a tower.]]

* BatmanGambit: Pretty Boy's squadron uses decoy planes to draw American fighters off so they can pick off the bombers easily. This works on the all-white escort group in the opening sequence, who were trained to go for as many kills as they can, but it fails to entice the [[GenreSavvy Red Tails]], who know they'll never fly escort duty again if they don't stay on-mission and get the bombers home safely.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Two Tuskegee airmen really did sink a German-crewed Italian destroyer[[note]]When the Italians overthrew Mussolini and surrendered in 1943, many Italian warships were seized by the Germans and manned with ''Kriegsmarine'' crews[[/note]], however, the scene depicting this action has a '''TREMENDOUS''' problem: the ship that the studio chose to include as the "destroyer" isn't a destroyer, it's a ''Vittorio Veneto''-class battleship. Two [=P-51s=] making strafing runs could very well be catastrophic for a destroyer (as it was for the real destroyer they sunk), but would be mildly annoying at best for the battleship.

** We see the tail of a Mustang fighter slicing through the clouds before the rest of the plane rises into view, much in the style of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''.
*** Or ''{{Airplane}}'', which was making fun of ''Jaws'' with that shot anyways.

** A bomber officer warns the fighter pilots about the new jet fighters the Germans are beginning to field late in the movie.

** The real Me-262 carried four 30mm Mk-108 cannons. [[spoiler:Lightning's death getting riddled with small-caliber bullets]] would realistically have looked more like a gigantic fireball caused by the hail of 330-gram explosive-incendiary bullets blowing his engine to bits.

* NobodyEverComplainedBefore: Evidently, it never occurred to at least one member of the white bomber crews that black people took offense to the expression "Colored People."

** Some of the tactics used are accurate, including attacking a train head-on to minimize the danger of being hit by the AntiAir defenses on the train, and going into a power dive from high altitude to engage the German jet fighters (the P-51 Mustang was slower than the Me-262 in level flight, but could handily outdive it).

* TheAlcoholic: Easy relies on drink to get himself through the war. His friend Lightning tries to get him to stop. [[spoiler: He doesn't.]]

** Later, a German guard is shown gleefully introducing a POW barracks full of grumpy white officers to their new room mate, very black, and very alone [[spoiler: Junior.]] As soon as the guard leaves, [[spoiler: Junior]] learns that the men there are grateful to have him, because he couldn't ''possibly'' be [[{{Stalag17}} a Nazi spy]]. [[spoiler: And they want him to have a part in their escape.]]

** TruthInTelevision: While 262s could leave the P-51 in the dust in terms of sheer speed in the air, the 51 could turn on a dime while the early Me-262s required a long arc in order to execute the same turn. On the rare occasion where a 262 squadron would actually stick around and dogfight(for the most part, they would simply dive through bomber formations and take out as many as they could in one pass), P-51 pilots would follow the 262s into their dives, where the 51's superior maneuverability would actually allow them to ''outrun'' the 262 and thus give them the upper hand. The other tactic was seen in the movie: get ahead of the 262s and lead them with a spray of bullets.

A 2012 Action Drama film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in WorldWarII. This is the first feature film to be produced by Lucasfilm since 2008, as well as being its last independently made film before being bought [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] 9 months after this film was released.

* ShoutOut: TheGreatEscape, with the tunnel and the way the German guard gets surprised by a prisoner popping his head out of the hole in the snow-laden ground.

A 2012 Action Drama film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in WorldWarII. This is the first feature film to be produced by Lucasfilm since 2008, as well as being its last independently made film before being bought [[Creator/Disney The Walt Disney Company]] 9 months after this film was released.

A 2012 Action Drama film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in WorldWarII. This is the first feature film to be produced by Lucasfilm since 2008.