1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:07,049 --> 00:00:08,800 Isn't that something? 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:10,052 Yeah, it is. 5 00:00:10,052 --> 00:00:12,804 Boy, what a small world. 6 00:00:15,057 --> 00:00:17,184 Everything had to be perfect. 7 00:00:17,184 --> 00:00:19,645 The instructor gave me a maneuver to practice until 8 00:00:19,645 --> 00:00:21,939 my next check ride. 9 00:00:21,939 --> 00:00:26,068 I practice, practice, practice until I got it perfect. 10 00:00:27,069 --> 00:00:29,279 I'm having a birthday party next year. 11 00:00:29,279 --> 00:00:30,280 The 100th? 12 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:31,240 Huh? 13 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,575 - 100? - Yeah. 14 00:00:34,076 --> 00:00:37,287 You fly along and the sky is so tranquil. 15 00:00:37,287 --> 00:00:40,916 And then all of a sudden: bang! 16 00:00:43,585 --> 00:00:47,881 And here's an 88 anti-aircraft shell that might explode 17 00:00:47,881 --> 00:00:50,259 right next to you. 18 00:00:50,801 --> 00:00:53,178 Each one of us wanted to be the best. 19 00:00:53,178 --> 00:00:55,639 You get all those best together. 20 00:00:55,639 --> 00:00:58,058 You've got quite an organization. 21 00:00:58,058 --> 00:01:00,185 And that's what we had. 22 00:01:02,646 --> 00:01:04,189 We painted not only the rudder, but 23 00:01:04,189 --> 00:01:06,233 the whole damn tail red. 24 00:01:06,233 --> 00:01:08,735 And so became known as the "Red Tails." 25 00:01:08,735 --> 00:01:11,947 And it was just a symbol. 26 00:01:11,947 --> 00:01:15,534 Because people started talking about, "The Real Red Tails." 27 00:01:32,426 --> 00:01:35,512 In the waters of Lake Huron, 28 00:01:35,512 --> 00:01:38,307 lies a P-39 Airacobra 29 00:01:38,307 --> 00:01:43,854 flown during a Tuskegee training mission in 1944. 30 00:01:46,356 --> 00:01:48,275 Hey there! 31 00:01:48,275 --> 00:01:50,569 Please stand by. 32 00:01:50,569 --> 00:01:53,155 . 33 00:02:02,205 --> 00:02:04,875 Let me know when there are 12 there. 34 00:02:06,168 --> 00:02:08,253 I got it. 35 00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:12,382 You ready? 36 00:02:12,382 --> 00:02:14,885 You ready? 37 00:02:17,554 --> 00:02:20,432 A recovery team is piecing together what happened 38 00:02:20,432 --> 00:02:25,646 in these waters all those years ago. 39 00:02:27,773 --> 00:02:29,524 How many people know that there are 40 00:02:29,524 --> 00:02:33,362 World War II assets and archeological sites in America, 41 00:02:33,362 --> 00:02:36,031 no less in the Great Lakes? 42 00:02:39,242 --> 00:02:41,578 Wayne Lusardi and Brian Smith... 43 00:02:41,578 --> 00:02:43,163 Gary, do you want to zip me up? 44 00:02:43,455 --> 00:02:46,416 ...partnered up six years ago and they've been 45 00:02:46,416 --> 00:02:49,378 dedicated to this unique chapter of America's 46 00:02:49,378 --> 00:02:53,173 first Black military airmen ever since. 47 00:02:55,801 --> 00:02:57,427 Bringing all this back together, 48 00:02:57,427 --> 00:03:00,555 especially in a museum of the Tuskegee Airmen, 49 00:03:00,555 --> 00:03:04,393 it's going to just solidify the fact that 50 00:03:04,393 --> 00:03:07,771 these men who were not treated as equal citizens, 51 00:03:07,771 --> 00:03:10,774 were willing to give their lives. 52 00:03:15,237 --> 00:03:18,365 I think what's not in the history books is... 53 00:03:18,365 --> 00:03:20,158 just the blood, sweat, and tears that the 54 00:03:20,158 --> 00:03:24,454 Tuskegee airmen went through to fight for their country. 55 00:03:31,294 --> 00:03:34,423 In training missions alone, 15 young men 56 00:03:34,423 --> 00:03:40,345 lost their lives here between 1943 and 1944. 57 00:03:44,141 --> 00:03:45,851 We have a sense of urgency to bring the 58 00:03:45,851 --> 00:03:48,395 aircraft up because of its deterioration, 59 00:03:48,395 --> 00:03:50,689 because of a potential looting threat. 60 00:03:50,689 --> 00:03:53,775 The clock is definitely ticking. 61 00:04:05,704 --> 00:04:09,708 The plane was piloted by 22-year-old Frank Moody, 62 00:04:09,708 --> 00:04:12,419 who had already completed the rigors of the 63 00:04:12,419 --> 00:04:15,672 fledgling Tuskegee program. 64 00:04:18,425 --> 00:04:20,218 Recovering this from the lake bottom is 65 00:04:20,218 --> 00:04:23,013 really going to hopefully lead to answering a lot of the 66 00:04:23,013 --> 00:04:26,224 questions that we have about the site. 67 00:04:27,809 --> 00:04:30,645 The Great Lakes were an advanced training site, 68 00:04:30,645 --> 00:04:32,647 so by the time the pilots arrived here, 69 00:04:32,647 --> 00:04:35,984 they were already the cream of the crop. 70 00:04:39,529 --> 00:04:43,074 As a kid, I used to view the planes 71 00:04:43,074 --> 00:04:47,704 taking off and landing and fantasizing about myself being 72 00:04:47,704 --> 00:04:50,040 the pilot who's flying the plane. 73 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,626 So, I think that's what actually pointed me towards 74 00:04:52,626 --> 00:04:54,586 trying to get into the aviation field when 75 00:04:54,586 --> 00:04:57,214 World War II started. 76 00:05:02,719 --> 00:05:05,472 Training for Tuskegee pilots on the home front 77 00:05:05,472 --> 00:05:09,476 was difficult and dangerous. 78 00:05:10,894 --> 00:05:13,188 There's this anxiety, every time you 79 00:05:13,188 --> 00:05:16,149 get in that cockpit, you're always got it in the back of 80 00:05:16,149 --> 00:05:18,902 your mind the danger that you're in. 81 00:05:22,155 --> 00:05:24,407 The coastline here in the Great Lakes was 82 00:05:24,407 --> 00:05:26,826 just like the coastline in France. 83 00:05:33,834 --> 00:05:35,335 I didn't know what to expect. 84 00:05:35,335 --> 00:05:38,088 All this is new to me. 85 00:05:38,088 --> 00:05:42,634 I completed the exam, passed it, then went off to learn to fly. 86 00:05:44,094 --> 00:05:47,472 So, they trained here in P-39 aircraft. 87 00:05:47,472 --> 00:05:49,516 They would take off from Selfridge and fly no more than 88 00:05:49,516 --> 00:05:53,520 50 feet above trees, hills, mountains, all the way to 89 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,647 Muskegon, turn around and 90 00:05:55,647 --> 00:05:58,733 come back just to prepare them for combat. 91 00:06:06,616 --> 00:06:08,702 At that time, Selfridge Field would have 92 00:06:08,702 --> 00:06:12,539 been abuzz with wartime activity. 93 00:06:13,832 --> 00:06:18,503 The 332nd had moved from Tuskegee, Alabama to Michigan 94 00:06:18,503 --> 00:06:22,716 and was supported by young men who had volunteered to join 95 00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:27,262 the war effort, just like Frank Moody. 96 00:06:28,179 --> 00:06:29,514 He started working for an aviation 97 00:06:29,514 --> 00:06:33,351 manufacturing company during the war and then ultimately 98 00:06:33,351 --> 00:06:37,314 was able to get a spot at Tuskegee, where he earned his 99 00:06:37,314 --> 00:06:40,358 wings in February 1944. 100 00:06:42,944 --> 00:06:45,196 He had gone through the primary training, 101 00:06:45,196 --> 00:06:47,574 the basic training, the advanced training, 102 00:06:47,574 --> 00:06:49,409 and he was in combat training here 103 00:06:49,409 --> 00:06:52,078 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. 104 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,624 It's important to remember how young these 105 00:06:55,624 --> 00:06:58,001 men and women were when they were called into the service, 106 00:06:58,001 --> 00:07:01,421 taking on these training missions. 107 00:07:02,297 --> 00:07:04,633 Each time you go up, you could potentially lose your life and 108 00:07:04,633 --> 00:07:07,135 you're training to go to war. 109 00:07:08,219 --> 00:07:10,597 I volunteered to serve my country and 110 00:07:10,597 --> 00:07:13,683 I'm ready to serve my country and the war. 111 00:07:15,852 --> 00:07:18,730 Their patriotism was deep and profound 112 00:07:18,730 --> 00:07:20,607 because they not only wanted to win these military battles, 113 00:07:20,607 --> 00:07:23,777 but they also wanted to change what America was about. 114 00:07:26,071 --> 00:07:27,906 This isn't the Army's war. 115 00:07:27,906 --> 00:07:30,241 It isn't the Navy's war. 116 00:07:30,241 --> 00:07:33,244 It's the war of all Americans. 117 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,624 But at the time, the military didn't see 118 00:07:37,624 --> 00:07:41,586 all Americans as fit to serve equally. 119 00:07:43,254 --> 00:07:47,008 It took the lobbying of civil rights activists to force 120 00:07:47,008 --> 00:07:51,471 Congress to alter the Selective Service Act of 1940. 121 00:07:54,557 --> 00:07:56,101 The Selective Service Act has 122 00:07:56,101 --> 00:07:58,561 non-discrimination provisions that are written into it based 123 00:07:58,561 --> 00:08:01,523 on the previous protests of civil right activists. 124 00:08:01,523 --> 00:08:03,692 That means that Black Americans can't be excluded 125 00:08:03,692 --> 00:08:06,361 from military service. 126 00:08:07,737 --> 00:08:10,615 Well, I volunteered at 17, but I was 127 00:08:10,615 --> 00:08:12,909 taken into the service at 18. 128 00:08:12,909 --> 00:08:15,537 At the beginning of World War II, 129 00:08:15,537 --> 00:08:18,665 they had a mandatory for all 130 00:08:18,665 --> 00:08:25,004 able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 36 131 00:08:25,004 --> 00:08:28,258 were to register for the draft. 132 00:08:28,258 --> 00:08:30,218 What machines did you operate? 133 00:08:30,218 --> 00:08:32,929 I operated boring mills, tool grinders, 134 00:08:32,929 --> 00:08:35,306 drill presses, planes. 135 00:08:35,306 --> 00:08:38,601 But most of the African American soldiers, 136 00:08:38,601 --> 00:08:41,396 even though they did a fine job, 137 00:08:41,396 --> 00:08:43,815 they were segregated to the point where 138 00:08:43,815 --> 00:08:47,569 they were put into strictly menial labor. 139 00:08:49,946 --> 00:08:51,823 White military leaders just didn't believe 140 00:08:51,823 --> 00:08:53,992 that Black Americans had the intelligence, courage, 141 00:08:53,992 --> 00:08:56,786 bravery, to be able to be good soldiers, and they, 142 00:08:56,786 --> 00:09:00,373 military leaders wrote that into the official documentation. 143 00:09:01,583 --> 00:09:02,917 "According to the studies, a Negro was 144 00:09:02,917 --> 00:09:05,712 barely qualified for combat duty. 145 00:09:05,712 --> 00:09:10,300 Was by nature subservient, mentally inferior, and 146 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:14,846 believed himself to be inferior to the White man. 147 00:09:16,306 --> 00:09:19,726 Was susceptible to crowd psychology, cannot control 148 00:09:19,726 --> 00:09:23,730 himself in the face of danger, and did not have the initiative, 149 00:09:23,730 --> 00:09:26,941 courage, and resourcefulness of the White man." 150 00:09:26,941 --> 00:09:29,527 That's what we had to put up with. 151 00:09:29,527 --> 00:09:32,572 All wrong. 152 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,995 I went down to join the Army Air Corps. 153 00:09:39,496 --> 00:09:40,413 Took the test. 154 00:09:41,289 --> 00:09:44,709 Did very well on it, and after I had hassled them a bit about 155 00:09:44,709 --> 00:09:49,047 not being called, I was informed by the military that 156 00:09:49,047 --> 00:09:51,758 I would never be called for the Army Air Corps because 157 00:09:51,758 --> 00:09:53,843 there were no colored units. 158 00:09:53,843 --> 00:09:54,969 There was never going to be one. 159 00:09:54,969 --> 00:09:57,096 There was no way I could go. 160 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:05,146 But the Black activist movement continued 161 00:10:05,146 --> 00:10:08,066 its political assault on Washington 162 00:10:08,066 --> 00:10:12,070 demanding military equality. 163 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:15,406 And what Black activists are demanding are 164 00:10:15,406 --> 00:10:18,326 all things related to the war: they want access to defense 165 00:10:18,326 --> 00:10:20,453 industry jobs and they want specific parts of the military 166 00:10:20,453 --> 00:10:23,331 to be opened up, particularly things like the Army Air Corps. 167 00:10:23,748 --> 00:10:25,750 The White House, Roosevelt, and other federal officials 168 00:10:25,750 --> 00:10:28,419 just can't ignore anymore. 169 00:10:29,879 --> 00:10:32,590 Roosevelt was running for a third term. 170 00:10:32,590 --> 00:10:38,221 The Negro press and the NAACP, they were on the backs of 171 00:10:38,221 --> 00:10:41,850 Congress wanting something to happen. 172 00:10:49,899 --> 00:10:54,737 And Roosevelt figured that if he started a fighter squadron, 173 00:10:54,737 --> 00:10:57,824 he'd get the Black vote, which he did. 174 00:10:57,824 --> 00:11:00,493 And he won. 175 00:11:00,493 --> 00:11:03,705 But all politics; but it worked out for us. 176 00:11:08,293 --> 00:11:12,881 In January 1941, the war department established 177 00:11:12,881 --> 00:11:16,342 the 99th Pursuit Squadron, 178 00:11:16,342 --> 00:11:18,887 based out of Tuskegee, Alabama. 179 00:11:21,848 --> 00:11:25,810 It was the first segregated unit within the Army Air Corps. 180 00:11:27,645 --> 00:11:30,732 I'm proud of what Tuskegee has done. 181 00:11:30,732 --> 00:11:34,777 I don't whether in any individual institution, 182 00:11:34,777 --> 00:11:40,366 realize how much they are being watched by the outside world. 183 00:11:43,786 --> 00:11:45,580 They were trained to be successful 184 00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:47,790 fighter pilots, but they're also trained to really prove 185 00:11:47,790 --> 00:11:50,084 to the larger military establishment that 186 00:11:50,084 --> 00:11:53,254 Black Americans could do this work. 187 00:11:53,254 --> 00:11:56,174 And that's exactly what Frank Moody was doing as 188 00:11:56,174 --> 00:11:59,260 he advanced through the program. 189 00:12:00,386 --> 00:12:02,680 An airman would have started out at 190 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:07,268 Tuskegee and then move to another base that 191 00:12:07,268 --> 00:12:10,188 specifically focused on combat training. 192 00:12:10,188 --> 00:12:12,982 And that's why they came to Selfridge. 193 00:12:16,903 --> 00:12:20,823 They were learning how to come from over the horizon on the 194 00:12:20,823 --> 00:12:25,161 water to strafe or destroy radar towers or installation 195 00:12:25,161 --> 00:12:27,747 along the coast. 196 00:12:32,710 --> 00:12:35,922 On the morning of April 11th, 1944, Frank Moody 197 00:12:35,922 --> 00:12:38,549 was flying one of the most sophisticated 198 00:12:38,549 --> 00:12:42,345 fighter aircraft built at the time: the P-39. 199 00:12:42,345 --> 00:12:45,974 And did his pre-flight, and the mission for the day was to 200 00:12:45,974 --> 00:12:49,519 leave early in the morning and to fly up over Lake Huron, 201 00:12:49,519 --> 00:12:51,854 up the Saint Claire River, and get out over the Lake Huron 202 00:12:51,854 --> 00:12:54,399 and do some gunnery exercises. 203 00:12:58,236 --> 00:13:00,613 A P-39 Airacobra. 204 00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:04,617 That's a unique airplane; the engine was behind the pilot. 205 00:13:04,617 --> 00:13:07,787 It had four 50-caliber machine guns, two of which sat 206 00:13:07,787 --> 00:13:10,540 right on top of the cowling. 207 00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:13,835 In the middle of the airplane, was a 37-millimeter canon, 208 00:13:13,835 --> 00:13:18,381 which shot a shell that would destroy tanks. 209 00:13:23,386 --> 00:13:25,013 So, four aircraft, all P-39s, 210 00:13:25,013 --> 00:13:28,016 left Selfridge Field. 211 00:13:31,853 --> 00:13:34,022 Right before 8:00 in the morning, they came up over 212 00:13:34,022 --> 00:13:35,440 Lake Huron. 213 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,817 They were flying in formation from south to north. 214 00:13:37,817 --> 00:13:42,030 And when it was Lieutenant Moody's time, he discharged 215 00:13:42,030 --> 00:13:43,990 his weapons, fired into the lake. 216 00:13:47,827 --> 00:13:50,038 And then something happened to the aircraft that resulted in 217 00:13:50,038 --> 00:13:53,875 an almost instantaneous crash into the water, cartwheeling 218 00:13:53,875 --> 00:13:55,877 of the aircraft, and he was gone. 219 00:13:55,877 --> 00:13:58,755 He was killed immediately in that accident. 220 00:14:01,299 --> 00:14:04,427 His body was recovered in 54 days, 221 00:14:04,427 --> 00:14:08,014 but the plane was never found. 222 00:14:08,014 --> 00:14:11,476 Until April 11, 2014, 223 00:14:11,893 --> 00:14:15,521 exactly 70 years to the date of the crash. 224 00:14:23,112 --> 00:14:25,865 Frank Moody's P-39 was discovered by 225 00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:30,703 Drew and David Losinski, a father-son dive team. 226 00:14:32,121 --> 00:14:35,041 We were diving, my son and I, and the water 227 00:14:35,041 --> 00:14:37,835 was crystal clear, this was early in the Spring, I think. 228 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:41,005 We went out and went to the first spot. 229 00:14:41,005 --> 00:14:43,633 We figured it was a rock, I think, and the second spot, 230 00:14:43,633 --> 00:14:46,219 Drew's at the very bow of the boat looking down; 231 00:14:46,219 --> 00:14:47,178 we're looking, and he goes, 232 00:14:47,512 --> 00:14:50,306 "Dad, I think you found, we found an airplane!" 233 00:14:50,306 --> 00:14:52,475 And I'm back driving the boat, 234 00:14:52,475 --> 00:14:54,977 and I says, you know how parents are, 235 00:14:54,977 --> 00:14:56,813 "yeah, sure, okay." 236 00:14:56,813 --> 00:14:59,524 "No, Dad, it's really an airplane." 237 00:15:07,573 --> 00:15:09,951 The main thing that we wanted to do was to find out what the 238 00:15:09,951 --> 00:15:13,329 plane was or how it got there, whose it was. 239 00:15:14,455 --> 00:15:18,167 We were down swimming, looking at the wing, 240 00:15:21,045 --> 00:15:23,297 and we dust it off. 241 00:15:25,258 --> 00:15:28,302 You could see the red position light. 242 00:15:28,302 --> 00:15:32,265 And looking at pictures, I figured there should be 243 00:15:32,265 --> 00:15:35,059 something, something painted, so we fanned it off. 244 00:15:35,643 --> 00:15:39,230 And there was a star, a box with a star. 245 00:15:40,565 --> 00:15:46,654 It means that it's military, and it's a U.S. military plane. 246 00:15:51,367 --> 00:15:53,661 So later on, we found out through lots of 247 00:15:53,661 --> 00:15:56,873 research and finding key parts of the airplane, we got the 248 00:15:56,873 --> 00:16:00,084 radio call number, which we linked to the accident report, 249 00:16:00,084 --> 00:16:05,298 which told us that we found that plane 70 years to the 250 00:16:05,298 --> 00:16:08,134 date of when it crashed. 251 00:16:09,886 --> 00:16:12,430 It was pretty unbelievable. 252 00:16:16,058 --> 00:16:18,394 The Losinski's became immediate stewards 253 00:16:18,394 --> 00:16:19,979 of this site. 254 00:16:19,979 --> 00:16:21,981 We started kind of putting our head together about 255 00:16:21,981 --> 00:16:24,233 what are the options. 256 00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:25,151 Should we leave it in place? 257 00:16:25,651 --> 00:16:28,279 Should we document the entire wreck site ahead of time? 258 00:16:28,279 --> 00:16:31,449 Should it be recovered either in part or partially? 259 00:16:32,867 --> 00:16:35,870 Finding Frank Moody's plane triggered one of 260 00:16:35,870 --> 00:16:40,249 the most important World War II archeological missions in 261 00:16:40,249 --> 00:16:42,752 the Great Lakes. 262 00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:46,214 This is the first airplane that has been 263 00:16:46,214 --> 00:16:49,175 archeologically documented in the state of Michigan. 264 00:16:49,175 --> 00:16:51,135 We're trying to determine a cause of the accident; 265 00:16:51,135 --> 00:16:53,387 we're trying to see how an intact, 266 00:16:53,387 --> 00:16:56,849 very complicated machine, suddenly breaks apart. 267 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:04,649 Recovering a plane that's been underwater for 268 00:17:04,649 --> 00:17:07,944 70 years is no easy task. 269 00:17:10,196 --> 00:17:12,281 It's a multi-year effort, 270 00:17:12,281 --> 00:17:14,283 trying to raise it piece by piece 271 00:17:14,283 --> 00:17:18,079 and then immediately start preservation efforts. 272 00:17:21,582 --> 00:17:22,708 And the collaboration with the 273 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,171 Tuskegee Airmen National Museum has been key. 274 00:17:33,844 --> 00:17:35,638 Frank Moody and his crash brings to light 275 00:17:35,638 --> 00:17:39,475 the sacrifices that the Airmen made just to get to combat. 276 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,271 While we don't have his first-hand accounts from 277 00:17:43,271 --> 00:17:48,734 Frank, we do from other Tuskegee Airmen. 278 00:17:57,868 --> 00:17:59,620 I remember that when I went into the 279 00:17:59,620 --> 00:18:04,333 service, the first place I was assigned to was 280 00:18:04,333 --> 00:18:07,086 Kessler Field, Mississippi, 281 00:18:07,086 --> 00:18:11,173 that being below what they call the Mason-Dixon Line. 282 00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:15,970 Below that geographical point, segregation was the law. 283 00:18:15,970 --> 00:18:19,598 It was not a choice, but a law there. 284 00:18:21,475 --> 00:18:23,269 For Moody and other Tuskegee pilots, 285 00:18:23,269 --> 00:18:25,229 they're always fighting two battles at the same time. 286 00:18:25,229 --> 00:18:26,939 They're trained to fight a military battle, which was 287 00:18:26,939 --> 00:18:29,400 frightening in its own right, but they're also fighting a 288 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:31,235 battle against racism, 289 00:18:31,235 --> 00:18:33,487 a battle against second-class citizenship. 290 00:18:34,155 --> 00:18:35,489 We got to Washington D.C. 291 00:18:35,489 --> 00:18:38,409 a little early, so I got off the train, went and had 292 00:18:38,409 --> 00:18:41,370 breakfast, came back, went to get in the car I was in, 293 00:18:41,370 --> 00:18:44,373 conductor says, no, no, no, no. 294 00:18:44,373 --> 00:18:47,168 You ride in the car where Negroes ride. 295 00:18:47,168 --> 00:18:52,214 So, that was my introduction to segregation and the South. 296 00:18:56,886 --> 00:18:58,137 So, if you're trying to think of a welcoming 297 00:18:58,596 --> 00:19:01,474 place to train Black troops, Alabama in the 1940s wouldn't 298 00:19:01,474 --> 00:19:05,019 be the first place that you would think of. 299 00:19:08,272 --> 00:19:10,316 One of the challenges at Tuskegee Air Base was that it 300 00:19:10,316 --> 00:19:13,152 was a Jim Crow base in a Jim Crow city in a Jim Crow state, 301 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:15,696 and that shaped almost every aspect of what training was 302 00:19:15,696 --> 00:19:17,698 like for these Black pilots. 303 00:19:17,698 --> 00:19:19,241 I didn't go to town. 304 00:19:19,241 --> 00:19:21,410 I stayed on the base the whole time. 305 00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:24,330 You get into trouble going into town. 306 00:19:25,206 --> 00:19:28,376 Now, down at Tuskegee, one of the guys went into town, 307 00:19:28,376 --> 00:19:32,588 and the Sheriff told him, if I ever catch you back in town, 308 00:19:32,588 --> 00:19:34,382 I'll blow your brains out. 309 00:19:44,392 --> 00:19:45,559 The Tuskegee Airmen had to channel their 310 00:19:45,893 --> 00:19:49,230 frustration, their anger, into their military performance. 311 00:19:52,358 --> 00:19:53,776 My heart must have skipped a couple of 312 00:19:54,068 --> 00:19:56,904 beats and that type of thing, but I guess it was more with 313 00:19:56,904 --> 00:19:59,615 joy than anything else. 314 00:19:59,615 --> 00:20:04,745 I took off, and as soon as I broke grounds, I just felt 315 00:20:04,745 --> 00:20:09,417 this exhilaration; I've done it, I've done it, I've done it! 316 00:20:33,315 --> 00:20:35,776 Despite their excellence, the military and 317 00:20:35,776 --> 00:20:38,904 the public were not on board, 318 00:20:38,904 --> 00:20:43,409 so the NAACP and the Black press doubled down. 319 00:20:46,912 --> 00:20:48,622 The Black press understood themselves 320 00:20:48,622 --> 00:20:50,249 as a fighting press. 321 00:20:50,249 --> 00:20:51,709 And the thing they were fighting for in the lead up to 322 00:20:51,709 --> 00:20:53,544 World War II and then during World War II was to make sure 323 00:20:53,544 --> 00:20:55,880 Black Americans had a chance to be able to serve their 324 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,215 country equally. 325 00:21:01,260 --> 00:21:04,388 This relentless advocacy laid the foundation 326 00:21:04,388 --> 00:21:08,809 for an innovative initiative: the Double Victory Campaign. 327 00:21:12,813 --> 00:21:14,899 The Double V Campaign, is really the 328 00:21:14,899 --> 00:21:17,234 rallying cry for Black Americans during the war. 329 00:21:17,234 --> 00:21:19,069 It's launched by the Pittsburgh Courier. 330 00:21:19,069 --> 00:21:21,322 What they're calling for is a victory over fascism abroad 331 00:21:21,322 --> 00:21:23,407 and victory over racism at home. 332 00:21:33,209 --> 00:21:36,504 Eleanor Roosevelt lent her powerful voice to the 333 00:21:36,504 --> 00:21:39,465 fight early on. 334 00:21:39,465 --> 00:21:41,217 Everything Eleanor Roosevelt says and 335 00:21:41,217 --> 00:21:43,677 does becomes news. 336 00:21:43,677 --> 00:21:47,556 Well, she had always heard that Negroes 337 00:21:47,556 --> 00:21:52,144 could not fly airplanes, so she went to Tuskegee, 338 00:21:52,144 --> 00:21:55,523 and she rode with a guy we call "Chief" Anderson. 339 00:21:55,523 --> 00:21:57,691 And she found out we can fly airplanes 340 00:21:57,691 --> 00:22:00,152 just like anybody else. 341 00:22:00,152 --> 00:22:04,406 So, when they took the picture of she and Chief Anderson in 342 00:22:04,406 --> 00:22:08,160 the airplane and it was in all the newspapers 343 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,371 throughout the country. 344 00:22:10,371 --> 00:22:13,874 That sealed the deal right there. 345 00:22:13,874 --> 00:22:17,378 Yes, they can fly just like anybody else. 346 00:22:17,378 --> 00:22:19,964 As a matter of fact, they can fly better. 347 00:22:21,757 --> 00:22:23,842 Just ask me. 348 00:22:33,519 --> 00:22:37,773 In 1942, the first class of cadets graduated from 349 00:22:37,773 --> 00:22:41,026 Tuskegee Army Airfield. 350 00:22:42,486 --> 00:22:45,197 One of the most fantastic days in my life 351 00:22:45,197 --> 00:22:48,242 there that I can never forget. 352 00:22:48,868 --> 00:22:52,663 But it was graduation day, and just before going up and being 353 00:22:52,663 --> 00:22:57,501 presented my wings and my bars, as I said, 354 00:22:57,501 --> 00:23:00,296 "I think I've done it!" 355 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:02,339 Yes, it was a special day. 356 00:23:02,339 --> 00:23:06,427 We succeeded in the training and got our wings and now 357 00:23:06,427 --> 00:23:09,346 we're commissioned as an actual Second Lieutenant in 358 00:23:09,346 --> 00:23:11,515 the United States Army. 359 00:23:11,515 --> 00:23:13,350 And in July, a year before, 360 00:23:13,350 --> 00:23:15,436 I was just getting into the service. 361 00:23:15,436 --> 00:23:17,021 And now I'm a pilot. 362 00:23:17,021 --> 00:23:19,607 I can fly airplanes. 363 00:23:25,237 --> 00:23:28,407 But the risks were great. 364 00:23:29,241 --> 00:23:33,704 Nearly 15,000 servicemen died during training exercises 365 00:23:33,704 --> 00:23:36,457 in the United States alone. 366 00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:52,389 Today, the archeological quest to understand what happened to 367 00:23:52,389 --> 00:23:56,644 Frank Moody is in its tenth year. 368 00:23:56,644 --> 00:23:59,688 According to the U.S. Army accident report, 369 00:23:59,688 --> 00:24:02,232 the other three pilots that were in formation 370 00:24:02,232 --> 00:24:04,860 with Lieutenant Frank Moody, two of them 371 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:08,155 reported seeing fragments coming off of the aircraft, 372 00:24:08,155 --> 00:24:11,200 near the forward fuselage. 373 00:24:17,081 --> 00:24:19,541 It's always a possibility that there's some kind of 374 00:24:19,541 --> 00:24:22,461 mechanical problem with the aircraft. 375 00:24:23,545 --> 00:24:25,631 The airplane started to shake apart, 376 00:24:25,631 --> 00:24:27,383 and he lost control. 377 00:24:27,383 --> 00:24:30,469 The airplane nosed into the lake, Lake Huron. 378 00:24:33,347 --> 00:24:34,807 The Army, because they never found the 379 00:24:34,807 --> 00:24:37,601 airplane, really never came to any conclusions as to 380 00:24:37,601 --> 00:24:39,853 what caused the accident. 381 00:24:47,152 --> 00:24:49,321 When the team started exploring the site in 382 00:24:49,321 --> 00:24:53,283 2015, they had to figure out the best way to recover 383 00:24:53,283 --> 00:24:56,537 all of the parts. 384 00:24:58,706 --> 00:25:02,042 Looking at a vastly scattered airplane 385 00:25:02,042 --> 00:25:04,044 has been a challenge. 386 00:25:04,044 --> 00:25:05,170 It became very overwhelming. 387 00:25:05,546 --> 00:25:08,424 It's like, okay, well, how are we going to do this? 388 00:25:09,758 --> 00:25:12,386 The ultimate goal of this project is to bring the 389 00:25:12,386 --> 00:25:15,472 aircraft up in its entirety. 390 00:25:21,770 --> 00:25:23,772 Nick, you have the go-pro? 391 00:25:23,772 --> 00:25:25,691 Yep. 392 00:25:43,333 --> 00:25:44,626 The site is broken. 393 00:25:44,626 --> 00:25:46,086 It's highly disarticulated. 394 00:25:46,378 --> 00:25:48,464 You had and airplane that was roughly 30 feet in length and 395 00:25:48,464 --> 00:25:51,967 about a 32-foot wingspan that is now in literally thousands 396 00:25:51,967 --> 00:25:54,887 of pieces across the lake floor. 397 00:26:04,313 --> 00:26:07,107 Gimme that knife for the cable. 398 00:26:11,820 --> 00:26:14,156 Alright. Winch up. 399 00:26:20,287 --> 00:26:23,248 We got this humongous propeller blade 400 00:26:23,248 --> 00:26:25,751 with the gearbox. 401 00:26:28,045 --> 00:26:30,422 I say stop. 402 00:26:34,968 --> 00:26:37,179 Cool! 403 00:26:46,396 --> 00:26:48,816 The accident report suggested that 404 00:26:48,816 --> 00:26:51,276 something may have happened up forward in the fuselage, 405 00:26:51,276 --> 00:26:53,821 and that could have been a propeller issue. 406 00:26:53,821 --> 00:26:55,030 Of course, I was imagining 407 00:26:55,030 --> 00:26:56,240 the whole airplane. 408 00:26:56,657 --> 00:26:59,118 That's exactly what I was thinking too. 409 00:26:59,493 --> 00:27:02,246 The remarkable thing is how far apart they all are. 410 00:27:02,246 --> 00:27:06,250 You know, this one was 500 feet beyond, or the single 411 00:27:06,250 --> 00:27:09,503 blade was 500 feet north, and the other one was 412 00:27:09,503 --> 00:27:11,880 1,200 feet to the south of it. 413 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,258 This is maybe the last piece in the puzzle 414 00:27:14,258 --> 00:27:16,885 of why the airplane went down. 415 00:27:16,885 --> 00:27:19,346 It's, so far, you know, up until this point, 416 00:27:19,346 --> 00:27:21,056 it's just been unexplainable. 417 00:27:21,056 --> 00:27:25,602 It's about 70-some years and, wow. 418 00:27:26,937 --> 00:27:30,315 Yeah, it's pretty crazy. 419 00:27:47,958 --> 00:27:49,877 By the time Frank Moody was flying his 420 00:27:49,877 --> 00:27:52,838 training missions, Tuskegee Airmen had 421 00:27:52,838 --> 00:27:56,508 been in the European theater for over a year. 422 00:28:07,519 --> 00:28:09,062 Wing cameras, synchronized with 423 00:28:09,062 --> 00:28:12,065 blazing guns, record dramatic evidence of Nazi planes 424 00:28:12,065 --> 00:28:14,151 blasted from the skies. 425 00:28:20,908 --> 00:28:22,951 I never thought about air-to-air combat as 426 00:28:22,951 --> 00:28:24,870 a big problem. 427 00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:29,750 I looked for it. 428 00:28:29,750 --> 00:28:33,587 I'd be flying along, "oh, I hope we get some enemy aircraft." 429 00:28:33,587 --> 00:28:36,924 I thought about that is a duel between two men. 430 00:28:36,924 --> 00:28:40,344 I believed that I was a competent pilot, and I knew in 431 00:28:40,344 --> 00:28:42,888 my mind that I was. 432 00:28:50,812 --> 00:28:52,522 Lee Archer flew under the command of 433 00:28:52,522 --> 00:28:55,901 Benjamin O. Davis, Junior. 434 00:28:58,737 --> 00:29:00,113 Davis is one of the amazing figures 435 00:29:00,113 --> 00:29:01,615 from World War II. 436 00:29:01,615 --> 00:29:03,533 He graduates from West Point in 1936. 437 00:29:03,533 --> 00:29:05,619 He's the first Black person to graduate from West Point 438 00:29:05,619 --> 00:29:08,038 in the 20th century, only the fourth overall. 439 00:29:08,038 --> 00:29:09,998 It's only with the Tuskegee Experiment getting started 440 00:29:09,998 --> 00:29:11,959 that he has the opportunity to pursue his lifelong dream of 441 00:29:11,959 --> 00:29:13,877 becoming a pilot. 442 00:29:13,877 --> 00:29:16,880 He was a no-nonsense guy. 443 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,924 Everything had to be done right. 444 00:29:18,924 --> 00:29:22,010 And you can't knock him for that. 445 00:29:22,010 --> 00:29:24,888 That's the way things should be no matter what you do, 446 00:29:24,888 --> 00:29:26,181 you do it right. 447 00:29:26,181 --> 00:29:29,142 And he was our commander. 448 00:29:29,142 --> 00:29:31,144 He made a military man out of me. 449 00:29:31,144 --> 00:29:34,398 I think that he taught us discipline. 450 00:29:34,398 --> 00:29:38,235 And he always tried to encourage us to improve 451 00:29:38,235 --> 00:29:42,280 ourselves because he said, "America's watching you." 452 00:29:56,878 --> 00:29:58,630 Today is a really big deal. 453 00:29:58,630 --> 00:29:59,798 It's a major piece of the puzzle. 454 00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:01,842 It's going to tell us a lot about the airplane and what 455 00:30:01,842 --> 00:30:05,762 was going on with it when Lieutenant Moody crashed here. 456 00:30:16,940 --> 00:30:18,859 It's really murky down there. 457 00:30:18,859 --> 00:30:20,610 I thought it would be better today because 458 00:30:20,610 --> 00:30:21,987 it's sunny and calm. 459 00:30:21,987 --> 00:30:24,865 I think yesterday just stirred everything up. 460 00:30:28,452 --> 00:30:30,078 We're still waiting on straps, ok? 461 00:30:30,078 --> 00:30:32,247 Ok. 462 00:30:37,210 --> 00:30:38,879 Do not move the cable. 463 00:30:39,379 --> 00:30:41,965 Very good. Good. 464 00:30:41,965 --> 00:30:43,884 In a few minutes we're going to see 465 00:30:43,884 --> 00:30:47,929 Alison engine coming up that powered the P-39 that 466 00:30:47,929 --> 00:30:50,474 Frank Moody was flying. 467 00:30:50,474 --> 00:30:52,601 I can't wait. 468 00:30:52,976 --> 00:30:55,812 I got that the cradle's 469 00:30:55,812 --> 00:30:58,732 going to be the way. 470 00:31:01,777 --> 00:31:03,278 I'm seeing the airbag. 471 00:31:03,278 --> 00:31:06,156 The crane hook is coming up. 472 00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:07,866 There it is! 473 00:31:08,283 --> 00:31:10,077 About two feet underwater and it hasn't been this this high 474 00:31:10,077 --> 00:31:14,748 since 1944, April 11th. 475 00:31:17,167 --> 00:31:18,668 Yeah, you can stop right there. 476 00:31:18,668 --> 00:31:20,253 The bolts are underneath. 477 00:31:20,253 --> 00:31:21,880 Good work Wayne! 478 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,215 Pretty smooth! 479 00:31:23,215 --> 00:31:24,466 Congratulations! 480 00:31:24,466 --> 00:31:27,677 . 481 00:31:28,470 --> 00:31:30,639 Piece by piece airplane's coming up. 482 00:31:31,264 --> 00:31:34,976 I don't have the words to express. 483 00:31:36,269 --> 00:31:38,188 Probably the heaviest single component of 484 00:31:38,188 --> 00:31:39,523 the aircraft. 485 00:31:39,523 --> 00:31:42,943 So, very cool, it's really going to start to teach us 486 00:31:42,943 --> 00:31:45,779 a lot about this airplane. 487 00:31:45,779 --> 00:31:47,197 Getting it back to the 488 00:31:47,197 --> 00:31:49,366 Tuskegee Airmen National Museum in Detroit 489 00:31:49,366 --> 00:31:52,619 will start the conservation process. 490 00:31:52,619 --> 00:31:56,373 Having the engine, the propeller, the gearbox, 491 00:31:56,373 --> 00:32:00,043 all of that to examine from a forensics side will help us 492 00:32:00,043 --> 00:32:03,338 determine what was the cause of the accident. 493 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:06,800 Are we good to good? 494 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,469 Alright. 495 00:32:18,228 --> 00:32:20,105 Now, we have to transport it to shore. 496 00:32:20,105 --> 00:32:22,524 We've got to get it off of this barge, move it onto a 497 00:32:22,524 --> 00:32:25,443 flatbed vehicle, and then transport it to the 498 00:32:25,443 --> 00:32:28,321 conservation laboratory in Detroit. 499 00:32:32,826 --> 00:32:35,203 We do need to move the water machine. 500 00:32:35,203 --> 00:32:36,872 Are you pumping currently? 501 00:32:36,872 --> 00:32:38,039 No. 502 00:32:38,039 --> 00:32:39,249 - No. - Ok. 503 00:32:39,249 --> 00:32:40,375 - We just turned it off. - Ok. 504 00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:41,626 Ready for the engine? 505 00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,753 - We got it. - I got it. 506 00:32:43,753 --> 00:32:46,715 You go up, just a little bit. 507 00:32:46,715 --> 00:32:49,009 Alright, hold. 508 00:32:56,099 --> 00:32:58,185 Alright, nice and slow. 509 00:32:58,185 --> 00:33:00,145 Nice. 510 00:33:01,521 --> 00:33:03,481 The laying out the plane like this today is 511 00:33:03,481 --> 00:33:07,152 an incredible visual opportunity to get a feel 512 00:33:07,152 --> 00:33:08,820 for how big this airplane is. 513 00:33:08,820 --> 00:33:11,198 It's hard to imagine it when you're underwater looking at 514 00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:14,201 just a little piece here and a little piece there and it's 515 00:33:14,201 --> 00:33:17,162 pretty impressive to kind of see it like this. 516 00:33:17,162 --> 00:33:19,289 This is the first time these artifacts have come together 517 00:33:19,289 --> 00:33:21,625 in this orientation since the airplane went apart 518 00:33:21,625 --> 00:33:24,711 79 years ago. 519 00:33:26,213 --> 00:33:29,132 This is the artifact that designed this entire airplane: 520 00:33:29,132 --> 00:33:31,384 the 37-millimeter cannon. 521 00:33:31,384 --> 00:33:33,637 It was mounted at the nose. 522 00:33:33,637 --> 00:33:36,264 It was also armed with 50-caliber machine guns 523 00:33:36,264 --> 00:33:37,766 on either side. 524 00:33:37,766 --> 00:33:40,227 And so with all of this stuff up in the forward fuselage, 525 00:33:40,227 --> 00:33:42,062 it was no room for the engine. 526 00:33:42,062 --> 00:33:45,315 So, the engine went back behind the pilot. 527 00:33:45,315 --> 00:33:47,400 And that was a very unique situation for a single-seat 528 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,153 fighter aircraft at that time. 529 00:33:50,153 --> 00:33:53,114 It gives me pause to think this big, massive 530 00:33:53,114 --> 00:33:57,994 1200- pound engine, would actually fly in an airplane. 531 00:34:02,540 --> 00:34:06,086 But the P-39's had their limitations; 532 00:34:06,086 --> 00:34:09,631 they performed best at lower altitudes, 533 00:34:09,631 --> 00:34:11,299 better for strafing. 534 00:34:16,346 --> 00:34:17,639 They needed airplanes that would go 535 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:21,059 further, and they got the 51. 536 00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:23,270 It could go further. It could go higher. 537 00:34:23,270 --> 00:34:26,523 It could fly longer. It could turn better. 538 00:34:26,523 --> 00:34:30,819 It had all of the agile traits of a fighter. 539 00:34:33,363 --> 00:34:36,116 When I got in the P-51 and I took it off, 540 00:34:36,116 --> 00:34:39,327 I fell in love with it, the first time I flew it. 541 00:34:39,327 --> 00:34:43,081 It was such a beautifully handling aircraft. 542 00:34:47,961 --> 00:34:49,379 The Tuskegee pilots had a very specific 543 00:34:49,379 --> 00:34:50,797 role in combat. 544 00:34:50,797 --> 00:34:52,716 Their job was to accompany bombers on these 545 00:34:52,716 --> 00:34:54,509 targeted bombing runs. 546 00:34:54,843 --> 00:34:56,219 Huge fleets of allied bombers 547 00:34:56,219 --> 00:34:58,930 protected by umbrellas of fighter planes, continue their 548 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:02,767 all-out offensive upon Nazi war plants in Europe. 549 00:35:12,068 --> 00:35:13,695 The White fighter groups, they were 550 00:35:13,695 --> 00:35:17,866 averaging 46 bombers lost per mission. 551 00:35:17,866 --> 00:35:19,576 Per mission. 552 00:35:19,576 --> 00:35:22,120 That's a lot of people. 553 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:23,330 A lot of people. 554 00:35:23,330 --> 00:35:26,166 That's why we got the job of escorting bombers. 555 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,212 Colonel Davis said, "don't leave the bombers. 556 00:35:31,212 --> 00:35:33,965 If that German fighter leaves, let him go and you stick with 557 00:35:33,965 --> 00:35:35,300 the bombers. 558 00:35:35,759 --> 00:35:38,053 There's ten men on each bomber airplane, only one man in that 559 00:35:38,053 --> 00:35:39,888 German fighter. 560 00:35:39,888 --> 00:35:42,474 We want to protect the bombers and bring those home. 561 00:35:45,727 --> 00:35:47,729 When we first started flying with them, 562 00:35:47,729 --> 00:35:50,398 they knew that there was a new fighter group that had joined: 563 00:35:50,398 --> 00:35:51,608 the Red Tails. 564 00:35:52,108 --> 00:35:55,195 They said who are these guys flying these damn Red Tails? 565 00:35:55,195 --> 00:35:57,322 These guys are with us all the way. 566 00:35:57,322 --> 00:35:59,824 By the way, who are these guys? 567 00:36:09,125 --> 00:36:10,502 One of the things that happens after the 568 00:36:10,502 --> 00:36:12,170 Tuskegee Airmen get into combat is they start to 569 00:36:12,170 --> 00:36:14,172 receive media attention, not just from Black newspapers, 570 00:36:14,172 --> 00:36:16,341 but now from national newspapers. 571 00:36:16,341 --> 00:36:18,551 They say that they've mastered the art of aviation, 572 00:36:18,551 --> 00:36:21,388 that they're squashing Hitler's Aces like bugs. 573 00:36:25,684 --> 00:36:27,018 It got to the point where they were 574 00:36:27,018 --> 00:36:28,978 requesting us. 575 00:36:28,978 --> 00:36:30,772 They wanted us. 576 00:36:30,772 --> 00:36:33,316 They didn't believe we were flying airplanes when we got 577 00:36:33,316 --> 00:36:37,362 over there, because the book said "no, they can't do that." 578 00:36:38,905 --> 00:36:39,739 On a bombing mission over enemy 579 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:43,410 territory, a fighter escort is a mighty comforting sight. 580 00:36:43,410 --> 00:36:45,620 This man thought it was plenty good enough. 581 00:36:45,620 --> 00:36:49,624 As far as he was concerned, this man could fly tough cover 582 00:36:49,624 --> 00:36:53,253 for him any day. 583 00:36:53,753 --> 00:36:55,547 When I was escorting the bombers, 584 00:36:55,547 --> 00:36:57,757 there were White guys in these planes here, 585 00:36:57,757 --> 00:36:59,551 they were just Americans there. 586 00:36:59,551 --> 00:37:01,511 We were all on the same team. 587 00:37:01,511 --> 00:37:04,264 That's what they were, and I never looked at them as being 588 00:37:04,264 --> 00:37:07,392 White or anything else. 589 00:37:07,392 --> 00:37:10,228 We were just team members. 590 00:37:13,022 --> 00:37:15,108 After their many successes in Europe, 591 00:37:15,108 --> 00:37:20,738 the Tuskegee Airmen were unstoppable. 592 00:37:22,824 --> 00:37:25,285 Now, you may ask, who was the best? 593 00:37:25,285 --> 00:37:27,620 Depends on who's telling the story! 594 00:37:29,205 --> 00:37:30,498 Right now, I am! 595 00:37:40,425 --> 00:37:42,051 Throughout the world, throngs of people 596 00:37:42,051 --> 00:37:44,846 hail the end of the war in Europe. 597 00:37:45,346 --> 00:37:46,848 Victory Over Europe Day was a time of 598 00:37:46,848 --> 00:37:49,142 jubilation for Black Americans. 599 00:37:49,142 --> 00:37:52,270 The whole world must be cleansed of the 600 00:37:52,270 --> 00:37:56,316 evil from which half the world has been freed. 601 00:37:57,942 --> 00:37:59,652 The hope that with the war over, they will 602 00:37:59,652 --> 00:38:01,446 finally be able to come back to the United States and start 603 00:38:01,446 --> 00:38:04,407 to see some of what they fought for come into reality. 604 00:38:06,075 --> 00:38:08,536 I remember this for the rest of my life: 605 00:38:08,536 --> 00:38:11,748 we were coming down the gangplank, getting off the 606 00:38:11,748 --> 00:38:15,418 boat, they had a sign at the bottom of the gangplank: 607 00:38:15,418 --> 00:38:17,295 Whites to one side. 608 00:38:17,295 --> 00:38:19,214 Colored to the other side. 609 00:38:19,214 --> 00:38:23,676 And I said to myself, "This is some country." 610 00:38:29,557 --> 00:38:32,852 After the war, the Tuskegee pilots returned to 611 00:38:32,852 --> 00:38:38,525 segregated units, but their successes in Europe 612 00:38:38,525 --> 00:38:42,403 served as a rallying cry for change. 613 00:38:47,534 --> 00:38:48,952 One of the first and most important 614 00:38:48,952 --> 00:38:51,538 civil rights milestones after the war was the signing of 615 00:38:51,538 --> 00:38:53,706 Executive Order 9981. 616 00:38:54,123 --> 00:38:55,542 By Executive Order of President 617 00:38:55,542 --> 00:38:59,838 Harry S. Truman: integration of all military units. 618 00:38:59,838 --> 00:39:03,758 It will take time, but the policy was established. 619 00:39:04,968 --> 00:39:06,594 The more I thought about it, 620 00:39:06,594 --> 00:39:08,596 we really did something special. 621 00:39:08,596 --> 00:39:11,558 If we had not been as successful as we were, there is 622 00:39:11,558 --> 00:39:15,770 no way that Truman would have possibly made that move. 623 00:39:17,188 --> 00:39:18,648 So, the military becomes integrated 624 00:39:18,648 --> 00:39:20,567 before most of corporate America, before most of 625 00:39:20,567 --> 00:39:21,442 higher education does. 626 00:39:22,068 --> 00:39:23,778 And so, it really provides one of the building blocks for the 627 00:39:23,778 --> 00:39:25,530 larger success of the Civil Right Movement 628 00:39:25,530 --> 00:39:28,241 in the 1950s and 60s. 629 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:31,286 One of the troubling things that happens at the end of 630 00:39:31,286 --> 00:39:34,414 World War II is that the first wave of books that come out 631 00:39:34,414 --> 00:39:35,582 about the war, 632 00:39:35,582 --> 00:39:39,168 really write Black Americans out of the story. 633 00:39:39,168 --> 00:39:41,963 That's why it took so long before the service, 634 00:39:41,963 --> 00:39:45,174 the patriotism, the tremendous successes, and path-breaking 635 00:39:45,174 --> 00:39:48,303 work of the Tuskegee Airmen to come to the forefront. 636 00:39:52,473 --> 00:39:55,935 Now, Frank Moody's recovered P-39... 637 00:39:55,935 --> 00:39:57,729 Hey, we'll swing around. 638 00:39:57,729 --> 00:40:02,483 Is adding a new chapter to the Airmen's stories. 639 00:40:02,483 --> 00:40:04,944 It's amazing that this gun isn't bent. 640 00:40:04,944 --> 00:40:06,571 When we start to look at this and when we 641 00:40:06,571 --> 00:40:09,699 have this all kind of laid out here, we're starting to see a 642 00:40:09,699 --> 00:40:13,620 lot of damage that happened in the propeller blades. 643 00:40:13,620 --> 00:40:17,498 And you might think that that's just a rock hole or 644 00:40:17,498 --> 00:40:20,001 something that was damage as this artifact was sitting on 645 00:40:20,001 --> 00:40:22,503 the lake floor for the last eight decades, but when you 646 00:40:22,503 --> 00:40:25,548 start looking at the other two blades and they have identical 647 00:40:25,548 --> 00:40:29,093 holes in them, suddenly we're starting to see something 648 00:40:29,093 --> 00:40:32,513 here; a major problem that's going on with this aircraft. 649 00:40:33,181 --> 00:40:34,557 Synchronization, if you've ever 650 00:40:34,557 --> 00:40:36,184 gone to dance class and danced with a partner, 651 00:40:36,184 --> 00:40:38,770 you don't want to step on their toes. 652 00:40:38,770 --> 00:40:41,981 So, you would synchronize your steps, so that you always 653 00:40:41,981 --> 00:40:44,317 miss each other's feet. 654 00:40:44,317 --> 00:40:50,073 And this airplane had a synchronizer or an interrupter 655 00:40:50,073 --> 00:40:54,952 in the hub, which knew where the propeller blade was and 656 00:40:54,952 --> 00:40:58,581 would stop this gun from firing when the blade was 657 00:40:58,581 --> 00:41:00,708 in front of the gun. 658 00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:03,086 In in a sense, the pilot's not actually 659 00:41:03,086 --> 00:41:04,253 shooting the gun. 660 00:41:04,879 --> 00:41:06,631 He's pulling the trigger, but then the airplane's deciding, 661 00:41:06,631 --> 00:41:09,676 right here, when that gun is actually firing. 662 00:41:09,676 --> 00:41:11,386 Yes. 663 00:41:11,386 --> 00:41:13,096 When Lieutenant Moody pulled the trigger, 664 00:41:13,096 --> 00:41:15,640 the guns fired into the propeller blades and 665 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,434 they created an entry hole and an exit wound. 666 00:41:18,434 --> 00:41:20,144 And that's the same, very consistent, 667 00:41:20,144 --> 00:41:23,064 on all three of these blades. 668 00:41:23,064 --> 00:41:25,608 If it was Frank Moody's fault, you know, 669 00:41:25,608 --> 00:41:29,529 due to pilot error or a collision with another aircraft, 670 00:41:29,529 --> 00:41:32,699 we would see other damage, especially in these blades 671 00:41:32,699 --> 00:41:35,118 that we're not seeing. 672 00:41:35,118 --> 00:41:37,704 The proof found in these blades serve as a 673 00:41:37,704 --> 00:41:42,500 testament to Frank Moody and his extraordinary journey. 674 00:41:43,084 --> 00:41:43,835 Amazing! 675 00:41:44,544 --> 00:41:46,254 In the end, it was the mechanical system 676 00:41:46,254 --> 00:41:47,839 that failed him. 677 00:41:47,839 --> 00:41:50,925 Now we can chronicle, highlight, and 678 00:41:50,925 --> 00:41:54,554 talk about his life and the importance of his life toward 679 00:41:54,554 --> 00:41:57,640 the war effort, toward fighting the Germans. 680 00:41:59,517 --> 00:42:01,519 Artifacts like the plane help us make those 681 00:42:01,519 --> 00:42:04,939 jumps between scale in terms of how we talk about history. 682 00:42:04,939 --> 00:42:06,774 Frank Moody's story is one piece of the puzzle that helps 683 00:42:06,774 --> 00:42:09,777 to fill in our larger understanding of what America 684 00:42:09,777 --> 00:42:12,363 was like during World War II. 685 00:42:12,363 --> 00:42:13,990 And more than anything, it gives us an opportunity to 686 00:42:13,990 --> 00:42:16,159 help honor the service and sacrifices of 687 00:42:16,159 --> 00:42:18,536 those Black veterans. 688 00:42:19,662 --> 00:42:22,623 For years the Tuskegee Airmen pushed the 689 00:42:22,623 --> 00:42:25,293 boundaries of what was possible, 690 00:42:25,293 --> 00:42:27,503 distinguishing themselves in the air, 691 00:42:27,503 --> 00:42:32,925 while breaking barriers for Black Americans everywhere. 692 00:42:32,925 --> 00:42:35,261 One of the through lines in Black history 693 00:42:35,261 --> 00:42:37,764 is Black people having to prove they could do things 694 00:42:37,764 --> 00:42:39,724 other people doubt that they could do. 695 00:42:39,724 --> 00:42:42,727 Outside, the next day, then it all came back. 696 00:42:42,727 --> 00:42:44,896 Everything we did had to be perfect. 697 00:42:44,896 --> 00:42:47,231 Everything had to be perfect. 698 00:42:47,231 --> 00:42:50,193 That helped us and made us better pilots. 699 00:42:50,193 --> 00:42:52,945 That's why we were so good. 700 00:42:52,945 --> 00:42:55,948 What can I say? 701 00:42:57,241 --> 00:42:59,577 They were trying to take us down the drain, 702 00:42:59,577 --> 00:43:01,996 and we said, no, no, no. 703 00:43:04,916 --> 00:43:07,627 Well, it's a matter that we prove them wrong 704 00:43:07,627 --> 00:43:11,297 that we could do a job and that's about all you can do. 705 00:43:11,297 --> 00:43:14,634 But they'll always be some doubting Thomases, 706 00:43:14,634 --> 00:43:18,638 but we did the best we could. 707 00:43:24,852 --> 00:43:26,562 Well, that's it. 708 00:43:26,562 --> 00:43:28,147 That's it, we proved it. 709 00:43:28,147 --> 00:43:30,525 And that hangs on you when you feel as though that every day 710 00:43:30,525 --> 00:43:33,402 you have something to prove. 711 00:43:34,695 --> 00:43:37,406 We showed them that yes, we can think. 712 00:43:37,406 --> 00:43:40,618 We can think under pressure, we can think all the time. 713 00:43:40,618 --> 00:43:44,622 We know how to do the job and get the job done, done right. 714 00:43:46,582 --> 00:43:48,668 I'm in the mood to fly that Cessna 715 00:43:48,668 --> 00:43:50,753 right now, you want to go up with me? 716 00:43:50,753 --> 00:43:52,046 Ok. If I can get in! 717 00:43:53,130 --> 00:43:54,257 That's my problem! 718 00:43:55,550 --> 00:43:57,260 Ok! 719 00:43:58,761 --> 00:44:00,847 Captioned by Cotter Media Group.