I had to post as we have so many CT'ers here.
The best thing about writing on this blog is the readership. I mean some of you guys are clowns but a great deal of you are very well informed.
In the comments on my recent post regarding Operation Dumbass a discussion began about the different variants of the F16. A couple of guys noticed the bright red tail on at least one of the F16s in the NYC fly-over.
This is where it gets interesting.
The distinctive red tail goes back to World War II and the P51-C’s made famous by the Tuskegee Airmen (Image above). The “Red Tails” are still alive in the Alabama Air National Guard and their F16s are in fact painted with the distinctive red tail (the only organization with the red tail paint job that I’m aware of).
If that is true, that means that the administration launched an F16 all the way from Alabama for a photo op.
But what could possibly be the purpose of going to such lengths the film a “Red Tail” escorting Air Force One?
How about a Hollywood movie!?
George Lucas is shooting an epic film about the Tuskegee Airmen as we speak.
Producer Rick McCallum said 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.”
Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year’s end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie’s title refers to the color of their fighter planes’ tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.
“It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage,” said the producer, who’s scouting locations for “Red Tails” in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. “I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible.”
Why would the White House go to such extremes to help Lucas shoot a movie?
Because Lucas was a huge supporter of Obama over Hillary in the primaries and apparently thinks Obama has the “Force” in him.
“We have a hero in the making back in the United States today because we have a new candidate for president of the United States, Barack Obama,” Lucas said when asked who his childhood heroes were.
Obama, “for all of us that have dreams and hope, is a hero,” Lucas said.
Can you imagine a more compelling way to end a movie about the trials and discrimination that these airmen faced and through courage and determination overcame in the end?
Okay, you can now take off the tin foil hats and go back to work.
