Two Tuskegee Airmen exhibits lend resonance to ‘Red Tails'

With "Red Tails," George Lucas' action film about the Tuskegee Airmen, off on a strong ride after its $19.1 million debut last weekend and Black History Month right around the corner, metro Atlantans may want to check out exhibits about the World War II heroes on long-term display in Warner Robins and Kennesaw.

• By happy coincidence, "Tuskegee Airmen: A Proud Heritage," at the Museum of Aviation at Warner Robins, won a museum exhibition of the year award from the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries on "Red Tails'" opening day, Jan. 20.

The show debuted in mid-December, expanding upon a Tuskegee Airmen exhibit that had educated visitors since 1997 at the sprawling, 51-acre U.S. Air Force museum near Robins Air Force Base, just south of Macon.

Additions to the original exhibit in the Scott Exhibit hangar include a realistic hangar façade and a large mural depicting airmen and aircraft on the flight line of Tuskegee's Moton Field, where black pilots received training.

Aircraft mechanics are depicted working on an original BT-13 Valiant trainer aircraft, and displays show a “Link” trainer used to train cadets on flight instruments. A typical barracks room is resurrected, and a large monitor plays Tuskegee pilot interviews and narratives.

An interesting cinematic time capsule is also on view: "Wings for This Man," a 1942 documentary on the Tuskegee Airmen dramatically narrated by actor-turned-Army Air Force Captain Ronald Reagan. The 10-minute, proudly propaganda-styled film, was produced by the U.S. military's First Motion Picture Unit and distributed to African-American cinemas during wartime.

"You can't judge a man here by the color of his eyes or the shape of his nose," the future President intones about Tuskegee. "On the flight strip, you judge a man by the way he flies."