Red Tail Project
Encyclopedia
The Red Tail Squadron, part of the non-profit Commemorative Air Force
(CAF) and until June 2011 known as the Red Tail Project, maintains and flies a World War II
era P-51C Mustang. The twice-restored airplane flies to create interest in the history and accomplishments of the members of the World War II-era 332nd Fighter Group
, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen
, whose distinctive red markings on the tails of the P-51s they flew during that war gave the organization its name.
The all African American 332d Fighter Group originally flew 15,000 missions as bomber escorts in the Mustang; eventually, the Airmen, who were originally shunned in the white military, acquired the right to fly combat missions. In 1970, the Commemorative Air Force acquired an original P-51 to include in their educational program. In 1980, Don Hinz took charge of the plane's restoration, and developed the idea of the Red Tail Project, named for the distinctive red paint on the Airmen's craft. Originally conceived as a restoration project, Red Tail evolved into an education program. Although the P-51 was restored, mechanical failure caused a crash and the death of the pilot, a retired U.S. Navy commander; the Tuskegee Airmen endorsed and encouraged the plane's second restoration, and the newly-restored P-51C made its debut at AirVenture 2009 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Since the 1990s, the Red Tail Squadron has raised over $2 million (US) for the aircraft's two restorations, its ongoing maintenance and associated educational programs. The Mustang has been featured in two documentary film
s: Red Tail Reborn
, and Flight of the Red Tail
.
The Tuskegee Airmen
is the popular name of a group of African American
pilots who fought in World War II
as the 332nd Fighter Group
of the US Army Air Corps
. This was the first unit of African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, in much of the United States, African Americans were still subjected to Jim Crow laws
and the American military itself was racially segregated
. Legal and social prejudice prevented the Airmen from flying combat missions. Despite their adversities, the Tuskegee Airmen flew with distinction: In 2007, 350 Tuskegee Airmen and their widows received the Congressional Gold Medal, and the airfield where they trained has been designated as Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
. Although some sources claimed the Airmen had a perfect record in their 15,000 missions as bomber escorts, recent research has revealed they lost only 25 bomber
s.
in bought a P-51C aircraft, which it parked on its campus in front of the engineering building. According to the Red Tail Reborn Internet Movie Database
page, in a prank, drunken students taxied the plane around the campus in the late 1940s. Thereafter, the aircraft was secured to the ground with steel and concrete. Otherwise the plane was essentially left alone in Montana, except for an occasional coat of silver paint. In 1965, when the University wanted to add a parking lot, restorer Lloyd Creek bought it from the University for $1 provided that he could remove it from the campus in 24 hours of notification of winning the bid. To move the plane promptly to necessitated the removal of the wings, which were sawed off with a circular saw
. When the plane arrived in Billings, the wings were reattached to the fuselage
.
Frustrated with restoration efforts, in 1970, Creek donated the plane to the CAF, which disassembled the plane and shipped it to the organization's home base in Texas. While awaiting restoration, the plane endured a hurricane described erroneously in the documentary as Hurricane Beulah
, although that storm was an earlier, 1967 storm. Regardless, a hurricane exposed numerous parts of the plane to seawater
damage. Several CAF volunteers attempted to rehab the plane in , Texas, , and finally in the late 1980s at the home of the Southern Minnesota wing of the CAF, which had just completed the restoration of the Miss Mitchell B-25. After noticing the plane in need of restoration, Don Hinz channeled his energy and talents into the emerging Red Tail project. The plane is now one of only four existing P-51C Mustangs in existence. As one of the four flying Mustangs, it is worth $2.5 million.
commander
based at Fleming Field
in , heard of the project and enlisted some experts as well as named the effort "The Red Tail Project".
Originally, the restoration was attempted at Fleming Field. After soliciting the assistance of outside contractors from North Dakota
, the plane was airborne in May 2001. The plane, which was named "Tuskegee Airmen", was included in numerous air show
s to tell the history of the pilot group. From May 2001 to May 2004, the plane flew before more than an estimated three million people. By 2004, Hinz envisioned an educational program around the restored plane. In a May 2004 show in the camshaft
drive of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine failed. Although Hinz successfully landed the plane between two houses in a residential suburb, both wings were ripped off and the body was badly damaged. A tree damaged in the crash fell on Hinz, causing head trauma from which he did not recover.
The Tuskegee Airmen decided to restore the plane. The five-year restoration occurred at Tri-State Aviation in . In 2007 Gerry Beck, one of the primary restorers, was in a fatal aviation collision of a P-51A and a P-51D during AirVenture 2007. Beck was the owner of Tri-State Aviation, but about a half dozen other CAF volunteer aviation mechanics contributed to the effort to pick up where he left off. The rebuilding continued with the mounting of the engine in 2008 and the mating of the wing in 2009. On July 22, 2009, four days before AirVenture 2009 in , the plane had its first flight. Then, it was flown to Wisconsin for its public debut. After the show it returned to Minnesota with a 6 AT-6
escort. The plane has also served a tribute via military flyovers for fallen Tuskegee Airmen.
In 2011, the volunteer-driven organization changed its name from the "Red Tail Project" to the "CAF Red Tail Squadron" and also completed construction of the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit as an additional tool to help tell the story of these pilots and their support personnel (who are also known as Tuskegee Airmen). The Mustang and the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit appear together at air shows, and the Traveling Exhibit also goes to schools and other youth-oriented venues.
The project hopes to preserve the legacy of the airmen through aviation education. Going forward, the group plans to add a mobile exhibition in the form of a semi-trailer truck
and a 53 feet (16.2 m) semi-trailer
. The name of the educational traveling exhibition program is entitled "Rise Above". It is intended to precede the P-51 exhibitions.
. He was attracted to both the plane and the cause, and his 2007 historical documentary, Red Tail Reborn
won Emmy Award
recognition in his home state of Ohio, where it was first broadcast in February 2007, and, subsequently released on DVD in March of that year. Narrated by Michael Dorn
of Star Trek
fame, himself a pilot and warbird
owner, the film documents the difficulties of the restoration of the P-51C and the travails of the Tuskegee Airmen. The following year PBS
picked up the film in its Black History Month
programming. White also completed a sequel, Flight of the Red Tail
, a 12-minute film released in 2009.
The restoration, completed in 2009, cost $1 million. In 2005, the Red Tail Project, which is not for profit, sought to raise about $2 million to fund the initial restoration. The organization held several types of events to raise funds. Since then, community-based organizations adopted the project. For example, in , where the plane was restored, each August the "Red Tail Run" is held. This motorcycle and vehicle run, which starts at the Harry Stern Airport
, raises money for the project. In 2008, the organization hired Fund Raising Strategies, a fund raising specialist firm, to develop a direct mail
fund raising program.
Commemorative Air Force
The Commemorative Air Force , formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is a Texas-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and showing historical aircraft at airshows primarily throughout the U.S. and Canada...
(CAF) and until June 2011 known as the Red Tail Project, maintains and flies a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era P-51C Mustang. The twice-restored airplane flies to create interest in the history and accomplishments of the members of the World War II-era 332nd Fighter Group
332nd Fighter Group
The 332d Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last assigned to the 332d Fighter Wing at Lockbourne AFB, Ohio. It was deactivated on 1 July 1949....
, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....
, whose distinctive red markings on the tails of the P-51s they flew during that war gave the organization its name.
The all African American 332d Fighter Group originally flew 15,000 missions as bomber escorts in the Mustang; eventually, the Airmen, who were originally shunned in the white military, acquired the right to fly combat missions. In 1970, the Commemorative Air Force acquired an original P-51 to include in their educational program. In 1980, Don Hinz took charge of the plane's restoration, and developed the idea of the Red Tail Project, named for the distinctive red paint on the Airmen's craft. Originally conceived as a restoration project, Red Tail evolved into an education program. Although the P-51 was restored, mechanical failure caused a crash and the death of the pilot, a retired U.S. Navy commander; the Tuskegee Airmen endorsed and encouraged the plane's second restoration, and the newly-restored P-51C made its debut at AirVenture 2009 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Since the 1990s, the Red Tail Squadron has raised over $2 million (US) for the aircraft's two restorations, its ongoing maintenance and associated educational programs. The Mustang has been featured in two documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s: Red Tail Reborn
Red Tail Reborn
Red Tail Reborn is a 2007 historical documentary film by Adam White about the Commemorative Air Force's Red Tail Project. The project involves the restoration, exhibition and maintenance of a World War II P-51 Mustang flown by the United States Air Force 332d Fighter Group. The exhibition of this...
, and Flight of the Red Tail
Flight of the Red Tail
Flight of the Red Tail is a 2009 historical documentary film by Adam White about the Red Tail Project's successful return to flight of a World War II P-51 Mustang that had become inoperable during a 2004 crash after having been restored for exhibition flying once before in 2001. The Red Tail...
.
The Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....
is the popular name of a group of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
pilots who fought in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as the 332nd Fighter Group
332nd Fighter Group
The 332d Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last assigned to the 332d Fighter Wing at Lockbourne AFB, Ohio. It was deactivated on 1 July 1949....
of the US Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
. This was the first unit of African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, in much of the United States, African Americans were still subjected to Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
and the American military itself was racially segregated
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
. Legal and social prejudice prevented the Airmen from flying combat missions. Despite their adversities, the Tuskegee Airmen flew with distinction: In 2007, 350 Tuskegee Airmen and their widows received the Congressional Gold Medal, and the airfield where they trained has been designated as Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, commemorates the contributions of African American airmen in World War II. Moton Field was the site of primary flight training for the pioneering pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen. It was constructed in 1941 as a new...
. Although some sources claimed the Airmen had a perfect record in their 15,000 missions as bomber escorts, recent research has revealed they lost only 25 bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s.
Provenance
At the conclusion of World War II in 1945, The United States Army sold off military surplus and for $1 ($ today) Montana State UniversityMontana State University - Bozeman
Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
in bought a P-51C aircraft, which it parked on its campus in front of the engineering building. According to the Red Tail Reborn Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
page, in a prank, drunken students taxied the plane around the campus in the late 1940s. Thereafter, the aircraft was secured to the ground with steel and concrete. Otherwise the plane was essentially left alone in Montana, except for an occasional coat of silver paint. In 1965, when the University wanted to add a parking lot, restorer Lloyd Creek bought it from the University for $1 provided that he could remove it from the campus in 24 hours of notification of winning the bid. To move the plane promptly to necessitated the removal of the wings, which were sawed off with a circular saw
Circular saw
The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
. When the plane arrived in Billings, the wings were reattached to the fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
.
Frustrated with restoration efforts, in 1970, Creek donated the plane to the CAF, which disassembled the plane and shipped it to the organization's home base in Texas. While awaiting restoration, the plane endured a hurricane described erroneously in the documentary as Hurricane Beulah
Hurricane Beulah
Hurricane Beulah was the second tropical storm, second hurricane, and only major hurricane during the 1967 Atlantic hurricane season. It tracked through the Caribbean, struck the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico as a major hurricane, and moved west-northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, briefly gaining...
, although that storm was an earlier, 1967 storm. Regardless, a hurricane exposed numerous parts of the plane to seawater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
damage. Several CAF volunteers attempted to rehab the plane in , Texas, , and finally in the late 1980s at the home of the Southern Minnesota wing of the CAF, which had just completed the restoration of the Miss Mitchell B-25. After noticing the plane in need of restoration, Don Hinz channeled his energy and talents into the emerging Red Tail project. The plane is now one of only four existing P-51C Mustangs in existence. As one of the four flying Mustangs, it is worth $2.5 million.
History
The Commemorative Air Force, which has approximately 9,000 members and a fleet of 156 airplanes, is an educational association with the purpose to pay tribute to American military aviation through flight, exhibition and remembrance. It has been collecting, restoring and flying vintage historical aircraft for more than half a century. In the 1990s, the CAF's Minnesota Wing began restoring a P-51 that many branches of the CAF organization had attempted to restore but found the task beyond their capabilities. The plane once served Capt. Andrew "Jug" Turner. Pilot Don Hinz, a retired United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
based at Fleming Field
Fleming Field
Fleming Field is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated between Peterlee and Durham, next to Shotton Colliery....
in , heard of the project and enlisted some experts as well as named the effort "The Red Tail Project".
Originally, the restoration was attempted at Fleming Field. After soliciting the assistance of outside contractors from North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, the plane was airborne in May 2001. The plane, which was named "Tuskegee Airmen", was included in numerous air show
Air show
An air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows"....
s to tell the history of the pilot group. From May 2001 to May 2004, the plane flew before more than an estimated three million people. By 2004, Hinz envisioned an educational program around the restored plane. In a May 2004 show in the camshaft
Camshaft
A camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata,...
drive of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine failed. Although Hinz successfully landed the plane between two houses in a residential suburb, both wings were ripped off and the body was badly damaged. A tree damaged in the crash fell on Hinz, causing head trauma from which he did not recover.
The Tuskegee Airmen decided to restore the plane. The five-year restoration occurred at Tri-State Aviation in . In 2007 Gerry Beck, one of the primary restorers, was in a fatal aviation collision of a P-51A and a P-51D during AirVenture 2007. Beck was the owner of Tri-State Aviation, but about a half dozen other CAF volunteer aviation mechanics contributed to the effort to pick up where he left off. The rebuilding continued with the mounting of the engine in 2008 and the mating of the wing in 2009. On July 22, 2009, four days before AirVenture 2009 in , the plane had its first flight. Then, it was flown to Wisconsin for its public debut. After the show it returned to Minnesota with a 6 AT-6
T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
escort. The plane has also served a tribute via military flyovers for fallen Tuskegee Airmen.
In 2011, the volunteer-driven organization changed its name from the "Red Tail Project" to the "CAF Red Tail Squadron" and also completed construction of the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit as an additional tool to help tell the story of these pilots and their support personnel (who are also known as Tuskegee Airmen). The Mustang and the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit appear together at air shows, and the Traveling Exhibit also goes to schools and other youth-oriented venues.
The project hopes to preserve the legacy of the airmen through aviation education. Going forward, the group plans to add a mobile exhibition in the form of a semi-trailer truck
Semi-trailer truck
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or articulated truck or articulated lorry, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine , and a semi-trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) articulated truck...
and a 53 feet (16.2 m) semi-trailer
Semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. A large proportion of its weight is supported by a road tractor, a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly, or the tail of another trailer...
. The name of the educational traveling exhibition program is entitled "Rise Above". It is intended to precede the P-51 exhibitions.
Documentary
After the 2004 plane crash, the restoration became the impetus for a nation-wide fund raising effort and attracted the attention of Adam White, an independent film maker who was, at the time, filming a documentary on vintage aircraft restoration called The RestorersThe Restorers
The Restorers is a 2004 documentary film by Adam White about restoration of vintage war planes ranging from the F4U Corsair to the B-17 "Yankee Lady"...
. He was attracted to both the plane and the cause, and his 2007 historical documentary, Red Tail Reborn
Red Tail Reborn
Red Tail Reborn is a 2007 historical documentary film by Adam White about the Commemorative Air Force's Red Tail Project. The project involves the restoration, exhibition and maintenance of a World War II P-51 Mustang flown by the United States Air Force 332d Fighter Group. The exhibition of this...
won Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
recognition in his home state of Ohio, where it was first broadcast in February 2007, and, subsequently released on DVD in March of that year. Narrated by Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn is an American actor, and voice artist who is best known for his role as the Klingon Worf from the Star Trek franchise.-Early life and career:...
of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
fame, himself a pilot and warbird
Warbird
Warbird is a term used, predominantly in North America, to describe vintage military aircraft.- Naming :Although the term originally implied piston-driven aircraft from the World War II era, it is now often extended to include all military aircraft, including jet-powered aircraft, that are no...
owner, the film documents the difficulties of the restoration of the P-51C and the travails of the Tuskegee Airmen. The following year PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
picked up the film in its Black History Month
Black History Month
Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
programming. White also completed a sequel, Flight of the Red Tail
Flight of the Red Tail
Flight of the Red Tail is a 2009 historical documentary film by Adam White about the Red Tail Project's successful return to flight of a World War II P-51 Mustang that had become inoperable during a 2004 crash after having been restored for exhibition flying once before in 2001. The Red Tail...
, a 12-minute film released in 2009.
The restoration, completed in 2009, cost $1 million. In 2005, the Red Tail Project, which is not for profit, sought to raise about $2 million to fund the initial restoration. The organization held several types of events to raise funds. Since then, community-based organizations adopted the project. For example, in , where the plane was restored, each August the "Red Tail Run" is held. This motorcycle and vehicle run, which starts at the Harry Stern Airport
Harry Stern Airport
Harry Stern Airport is a public use airport in Richland County, North Dakota, United States. It is located one nautical mile south of the central business district of Wahpeton, North Dakota and owned by the Wahpeton Airport Authority....
, raises money for the project. In 2008, the organization hired Fund Raising Strategies, a fund raising specialist firm, to develop a direct mail
Direct mail
Advertising mail, also known as direct mail, junk mail, or admail, is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The delivery of advertising mail forms a large and growing service for many postal services, and direct-mail marketing forms a significant portion of the direct...
fund raising program.