History Film / RedTails

* FiveManBand
** TheHero / TheLeader (type II) - Easy
** TheLancer - Lightning
** TheBigGuy - Joker
** TheSmartGuy - Coffee
** TheChick / KidAppealCharacter - Ray Gun

*** The third tactic, which was to use the Mustang's superior endurance to stooge around near a German airfield until you could catch an Me262 [[SittingDucks taking off or landing]], was not shown as it would make for a really boring movie, although it did necessitate a German counter-strategy of having propeller-driven fighters patrolling over the base during the jets' takeoff and landing to try and chase away or knock down any Allied planes hoping for an easy kill.

* [[spoiler:FatalFamilyPhoto: Lightning's photo of Sofia.]] Averted with [[spoiler: Junior]]. It's only after the heroes find out that HeDidntMakeIt that it is mentioned that he had a wife and two kids.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/120119095833-red-tails-movie-story-top_2029.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords "From the last plane to the last bullet to the last minute to the last man, we fight!]] ''[[ArcWords WE FIGHT!]]''"]]

A 2012 historical action drama film directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Creator/CubaGoodingJr and Creator/TerrenceHoward, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* HollywoodHistory: The movie perpetuates the myth that the 332nd "never lost a bomber;" in fact, just during its time with the 15th Air Force 27 bombers were lost on missions escorted by the Red Tails. This was better than average for US fighter groups, but it certainly wasn't "none." Though pretty much all of those losses were from anti-aircraft fire, not enemy planes. The film also shows red-tail P-40s flying bomber escort missions, which is inaccurate; the Tuskegee Airmen flew P-40 Warhawks and P-39 Aircobras in low-altitude and ground-support missions, and P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs (the aircraft with which they are most strongly associated) for high-altitude combat and bomber escort.

* HollywoodHistory: The movie perpetuates the myth that the 332nd "never lost a bomber;" in fact, just during its time with the 15th Air Force 27 bombers were lost on missions escorted by the Red Tails. This was better than average for US fighter groups, but it certainly wasn't "none." Thoug pretty much all of those losses were from anti-aircraft fire, not enemy planes.

* EscortMission: The job of the Pilots of the 332nd. In RealLife it was generally claimed that the Tuskeegee airman never lost a single bomber they were escorting to enemy aircraft.
-->'''Colonel Bullard:''' We count our victories by the [[LiveActionEscortMission bombers we get to their targets]], by the husbands we return to their wives, by the fathers we give back to their children.[[note]]This claim stood until records were declassified in the early 2000s, which revealed there were some losses to aircraft, a total of 27, almost all in July-Sept 1944, but at least 1/3 fewer than the losses of other escorting units (average was 46 among other squadrons). However, the 332nd did not lose a bomber on an escort mission for a six-month period between September 1944 and March 1945.[[/note]]

-->'''Colonel Bullard:''' We count our victories by the [[LiveActionEscortMission bombers we get to their targets]], by the husbands we return to their wives, by the fathers we give back to their children.

The film itself an be compared to World War II-era propaganda films like ''The Flying Leathernecks'' and ''The Flying Tigers'', being a long-overdue propaganda film for the African American Pilots.

The film itself an be compared t World War II-era propaganda films like ''The Flying Leathernecks'' and ''The Flying Tigers'', being a long-overdue propaganda film for the African American Pilots.

* EscortMission: The job of the Pilots of the 332nd. In RealLife it was generlly claimed taht the Tuskeegee airman never lost a single bomber they were escorting to enemy aircraft.

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/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.

* GenreThrowback: To the straightforward, patriotic war movies of the 1940s and 1950s, which the Tuskegee pilots didn't actually get back then because of their race.

** "[[CaptainObvious They're giving up glory]] [[{{Anvilicious}} to save our butts!]]"

* OhCrap: At various points. One in particular comes from Lightning during the squadron's first air combat mission. he's initially confident that he can bring Pretty Boy down, only to lose his cool when Pretty Boy manages to flip his plane and get behind Lightning.

* 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 ''Littorio''-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.

The first feature film to be produced by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} since 2008, as well as its first film with [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] since ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Episode III — Revenge of the Sith]]'', which was also its last film with 20th Century. This was also the studio's last independently made film prior to being bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] nine months after this film was released.

The first feature film to be produced by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} since 2008, as well as its first film with [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] since ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith]]'', which was also its last film with 20th Century. This was also the studio's last independently made film prior to being bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] nine months after this film was released.

The first feature film to be produced by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} since 2008, as well as its first and last film with [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]]. This was also the studio's last independently made film prior to being bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] nine months after this film was released.

The first feature film to be produced by Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} since 2008, this was also the studio's last independently made film prior to being bought by [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]] nine months after this film was released.

A 2012 historical action drama film directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Creator/CubaGoodingJr and Terrence Howard, based on the exploits of the Tuskeegee Airmen, an all-black squadron of American fighter pilots in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* HollywoodHistory: The movie perpetuates the myth that the 332nd "never lost a bomber;" in fact, just during its time with the 15th Air Force 27 bombers were lost on missions escorted by the Red Tails. This was better than average for US fighter groups, but it certainly wasn't "none."

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords "From the last plane to the last bullet to the last minute to the last man, we fight!]] ''[[ArcWords WE FIGHT!]]"'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords "From the last plane to the last bullet to the last minute to the last man, we fight!]] ''[[ArcWords WE FIGHT!]]''"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords From the last plane to the last bullet to the last minute to the last man, we fight!]] ''[[ArcWords WE FIGHT!]]'']]

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 UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. This is the first feature film to be produced by Creator/{{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.

!!Red Tails features examples of the following tropes: