NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tuskegee Airman Herbert Carter flew 77 missions during World War II and crashed landed only once, impressive numbers that challenged those skeptical of the abilities of black aviators. Decades later, he and the other legendary African-American airmen he flew with must once again prove themselves — at the box office.
“Red Tails,” a movie chronicling the heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen and starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terence Howard, opens Friday in 2,500 theaters nationwide.
“Star Wars” creator George Lucas has been blunt about his 23-year struggle to make the film. He said executives at every major studio rejected it because they didn’t think mainstream viewers would pay to see an all-black cast.
The 94-year-old Carter sees the hesitation by studios as history repeating itself.
“It goes back to the old axiom that the all-black fighter squadron, in their estimate, wasn’t going to do well,” said Carter, who made a career of the Air Force and retired as a lieutenant colonel. “It … doesn’t surprise me.”
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black aviators in the U.S. military. They were trained in Alabama at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, as a segregated unit during World War II.
After being admitted to the Army
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