Tuskegee Airmen

Looks like Red Tails , George Lucas' World War II biopic about the Tuskegee Airmen, made $19 million over the weekend. Decent, considering its limited opening in the dreaded dead zone between Christmas and the Oscars. I wasn't going to let ho-hum reviews stop me from seeing it. If anything, I went to honor men like Maj. John L. Harrison, one of the 320 surviving airmen (out of about 900) to receive a Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. Harrison saw it, too, and liked it. "I thought it was a superior depiction of aerial combat.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is one of the veteran Tuskegee Airmen. That is, the actor plays a base commander in the new, George Lucas -produced Red Tails, an action-packed account of the daring aerial exploits of the famed all-black flying unit of World War II. And Gooding was one of the young African American aces who took to the skies to shoot down Nazis in 1995's HBO drama The Tuskegee Airmen . Both films show...

Prosecutor to take 5th in gun probe WASHINGTON - A federal prosecutor in Arizona intends to remain silent if called for questioning in a congressional probe of a problem-plagued gun-smuggling investigation. Patrick Cunningham's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious was disclosed Friday after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed him. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.)

I REMEMBER thinking "The Help," for a civil rights movie, had an unseemly fixation on fashion and furnishings. Because, I guess, I'm a dude. Watching "Red Tails," a World War II movie about the proto-civil rights heroes known as the Tuskegee Airmen, I certainly didn't mind that it was also a movie about really cool airplanes. Doing really cool things, such as flying head-to-head against the German Me 262s, the world's first combat fighter jets, part of Adolf Hitler's growing arsenal of game-changing weapons that the Tuskegee pilots helped destroy before those weapons could alter the balance of war. In doing so, they helped to free the world from delusional master race ideology - ironic, since the black fighter pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group had to fight racism at home in order to earn the right to kill Nazis over Italy, France and Germany.

TERRENCE HOWARD didn't do much research for his role in "Red Tails. " Didn't have to. The movie's story, of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen, was one that he knew by heart. "I'd written reports about them in 1974, 1975. For my dad. That's how my daddy would discipline us," said Howard. "My dad was big on education, so I grew up knowing about the black pilots who shot down Nazi jets, and flew the P-51 Mustang. For me, the Mustang was always the airplane, not the car. " Howard admitted he needed the discipline of his dad's informal home schooling.

FOR MT. AIRY'S Eugene J. Richardson Jr., the last few months have been a whirlwind. Manhattan parties with George Lucas, Spike Lee, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. He's been an honored guest at several movie screenings, a couple of premieres, walked the red carpet, had his photo taken, given interviews, stood for applause and ovations. It's all well-deserved. And about 60 years overdue. All the recent excitement in Richardson's life surrounds the release of the new movie "Red Tails," an action picture celebrating the service of African-American fighter pilots in World War II, the so-called Tuskegee Airmen, including men like Richardson.

Stewart Fulbright, 92, a trailblazing black educator who piloted a bomber during World War II as one of the Tuskegee Airmen and who later served as the first dean of North Carolina Central University's school of business, died on New Year's Day in Durham, N.C. Born in Springfield, Mo., Mr. Fulbright enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943. He was one of about 1,000 men trained in Tuskegee, Ala., as the first African American pilots, navigators, and bombardiers in the U.S. military.

Airmen's story inspirational Re: "Remember veterans who fought many battles," Nov. 11: On Tuesday night, I had the privilege of joining more than 150 fellow Philadelphians at the National Constitution Center for a screening of the new documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen, Double Victory. While the film was terrific, it was the after-movie speakers who were really extraordinary. Mount Airy resident Dr. Eugene Richardson, one of the famed aviators, was joined by fellow airmen on stage and in the audience.

In a moving scene from a new documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen, African American pilots stage a peaceful sit-in at an all-white military facility. Their courage, and the battles they fought during World War II both on the battlefield and at home, are recounted in Double Victory, filmmaker George Lucas' attempt to promote more awareness of the Tuskegee Airmen. The film's release on Veteran's Day, and coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the airmen's first class of cadets, is fitting.

PHILADELPHIA U. City explosion A damaged power line led to an explosion yesterday in University City that sent three manhole covers flying and left smoke billowing up from underground, police said. A wire below 34th Street near Ludlow sparked and ignited methane gas, causing the blast about 5:15 p.m., police said. A stretch of 34th Street between Market and Ludlow was closed to traffic while Peco technicians secured the area. No injuries or power outages were reported.