"The Luft Gangster: Memoirs of a Second Class Hero," a 2016 movie by Detroit filmmaker Mike Rott, centers around the life of 94-year-old Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II.
The Tuskegee Airmen, "men and women, African-Americans and Caucasians, who were invovled in ... the Army Air Corps program," according to Tuskegee Airmen Inc., encountered racial segregation during and after the war.
On his 19th mission, Jefferson was shot down and captured by German Nazi forces and lived through the travesties of a concentration camp.
"Our story is one of survival, which everyone can relate to. We want the world to know," he said. "We held our heads high and we survived and flourished."
Rott brings the story of the real American hero in the context of the social turmoil of the time.
"Alex is one of the few Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots still living and our goal is to share his incredible story with as many people throughout the world as possible," said Rott, who was honored and inducted as a member of the Macon-Thomas chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. for his work.
The movie was released worldwide on American Airlines' inflight entertainment for Black History month. You can find the the nearest screening here.
