Pilots to be subject of Lucas filmBy Andy Paras (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, June 20, 2008
Alan Hawes Ed Gibson, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II, stands in his home on the west side of downtown Charleston. Gisbon recalls the experiences he and his fellow airmen shared during their training in Walterboro. Edward Gibson had just received his wings in the early 1940s when he returned to his hometown of Charleston on leave and ended up in a military police lock-up. Gibson's crime was that none of the military police had seen a black man dressed as he was: an aviation cadet and part of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of black fighter pilots allowed into the U.S. Army Air Corps. "They said I was impersonating something; they didn't know what it was," Gibson said with a laugh at his Cannon Street home Thursday. He finally was released a few hours later when his mother's employer, a white man, convinced the officers that Gibson wasn't an imposter. The officers weren't the first to be surprised that black pilots existed, and they wouldn't be the last. The group was practically a national secret for generations until a 1995 HBO movie brought it to light. Now "Star Wars" creator George Lucas is planning on making his own movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. "Redtails," named for how the Airmen decorated their airplane tails to distinguish themselves, is in pre-production. Gibson, 86, and Earl Adams, 87, a Tuskegee Airman in North Myrtle Beach, said they hope to see the group's achievements abroad and how they were treated at home portrayed as realistically as possible. Both men said the battle waged at home with white people who didn't think blacks should be flying an airplane should be told side-by-side with the more than 15,000 combat trips Tuskegee Airmen flew throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. "I would focus on everybody because we went through hell, you take it from me," said Gibson, a navigator aboard a B-25 bomber that was scheduled to attack Japan until the U.S. dropped the atom bomb. "We went through hell in order to get prepared to defend this country." Adams said the 1995 movie, "The Tuskegee Airmen," will be remembered for bringing the unit to light but that he and others had some issues with it. "I think it should be a mixture," he said of the new movie. "I think whoever makes the film should make it as real as possible." LucasFilms Producer Rick McCallum told The Associated Press that both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that "balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country." Gibson and Adams spent time training in both Tuskegee, Ala., the home of the first "experiments" to see if blacks could fly airplanes, and Walterboro, which also was a site where hundreds of airmen were trained, but it doesn't get the same recognition. Adams and Gibson said they were greeted the same way when they stepped off base, no matter which state they were in. Gibson said he sometimes was hit with sticks and bricks. Adams, a flight instructor, said that's why he never left the base in Walterboro during the approximately one year he was there. On the base, he said he remembers watching white pilots take down the rope that separated the black and white pilots in the base theater. But he had heard stories about how other Airmen were treated off the base, and much of the time it was a lot worse than the German POWs who also were on the base. He has a special place in his heart for Walterboro, which eventually embraced the Airmen with a parade and a monument and is now planning a museum in their honor. He hopes to see Walterboro get at least a mention in the movie because that was the last stop for so many pilots before they headed off to war. "I have a special feeling for Walterboro, I can't tell you why," Adams said. "I experienced a lot of bad things there as well." Both he and Gibson said that the treatment they received was secondary to proving to themselves and everyone else that they could do it. "Most of us were so excited about flying that the other part of it, the negative part of it, didn't mean that much to us," Adams said. Lucas hopes to begin shooting the film by year's end or early 2009, McCallum told The Associated Press. "It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage," the producer said. "I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible." Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 11 comment(s)
Posted by 1300dreamz on June 20, 2008 at 4:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is an amazing part of hisory that has gone unnoticed for quite some time. I hope Hollywood does this story justice when it brings it to the big screen.
Posted by eyfigueroa on June 20, 2008 at 6:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It was an amazing time in American history. In spite of, or some would say because of, the intense racism and bigotry shown to these brave men, The Tuskeegee Airmen performed their duties valiantly during WWII.
I'm very proud of these men and will definitely pay whatever amount to see their story illuminated on the big screen.
Posted by vern on June 20, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ah, Walterboro. I believe Luke Skywalker said it best: "If there's a bright spot in the universe, it's the town farthest from."
Posted by theronce on June 20, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They are among my heroes. I wasn't alive then, but I have no doubt of the hell they went through to excel while serving an ungrateful nation. Thanks.
Posted by PalmettoHawk on June 20, 2008 at 9:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
These men, proud yet humble, took all that their bogoted "superiors" could dish out and persevered to perform beyond and above most if not all of their segregated counterparts.
What they accomplished is nothing short of incredible...I watch and rewatch the documentary that HBO made as well as segments on historychannel.com.
Tuskegee Airmen, you have my undying respect and gratitude.
Posted by BigSargeofSC on June 20, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've had the honor of meeting one of these excellent men back in 1987. As a young soldier, I was totally humbled to have met him. I later learned that Tuskegee Airmen had escorted B-24 bomber groups that my grandfather flew in.
Fact: Not a single bomber was lost to enemy fighers when the group was escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen.
Posted by hadenough on June 20, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Should be a great movie that should have been made years ago honoring this group of heroes.
Big Sarge, the zero bombers lost claim has been recently disproved but that doesnt take away from their exceptional service.
Posted by oldglory on June 20, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Enjoyed your post, BigSarg.
Just amazing what 'we' allowed 'our' government to do to people at that time...
The Tuskegee Airmen, the Native Americans, the Land-of-the Rising-Sun*-Americans...oh yes, and women pilots...
I was born before that time, and although a child, I remember the 'feeling' of patriotism. Of course, I remember nothing about our fine military men of different races and descent as that part of WWII was never shown at Saturday Matinee news at the local theater, nor the women other than nurses and factory workers, never the women pilots that I recall.
Although I've seen the documentary of the airmen, I cannot wait for this movie. They were/are such heroes.
*wouldn't one think that P&C could find a way to filter only the disparaging use of this word and allow the full name???? Good gosh!
Posted by bkeelin on June 20, 2008 at 1:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It wasn't just our government "doing things to the people at that time" it was the people of America doing it to other people of America. Yeah, it might have started with the democrat President Woodrow Wilson showing the racist film "Birth of a Nation" but the white people of that time and even into the 60's and 70's continued to treat black Americans with disdain, disrespect and disregard. The white church did not step up and embrace the black church to end this racial divide and it is still a sore spot today.
Posted by charleston_grown on June 20, 2008 at 4:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
should be a great story. i really have a great deal of respect for these men and everything they have endured.
the only sad part is there are still plenty of people in SC that continue to treat black americans as second grade citizens. We need to stomp racism out!
everyone please ban together and let poeple know that it isn't ok to be racist.
Posted by Neponset on June 21, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
First of all, I will say that I am white, male and conservative and arrived in the south before the civil rights movement and saw the “white only” signs - I came from a lilly white small town in Mass.
I suggest that you with a race agenda leave it at the door when entering this forum on the Tuskegee air men - my understanding is that they overcame great obstacle, learned their craft well and once they proved their metal where held in high esteem by bomber pilots in Europe ie. met the bomber group on time and provides the needed protection with excellent results.
I can’t imagine lefty Hollywood doing an accurate treatment on this historic period.