THE REAL RED TAILS tells of the astonishing discovery of a P-39 airplane in Lake Huron, Michigan, reigniting a story lost to time and triggering one of the most important WW2 archeological missions in the Great Lakes. On the morning of April 11, 1944, Tuskegee pilot 22-year-old Second Lieutenant Frank Moody perished in what should have been a routine training mission when his plane malfunctioned and took a nosedive into the chilly waters. With unprecedented access, the one-hour special, narrated by Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), will take viewers on a journey to uncover the 80-year-old mystery of how and why Moody’s plane ultimately went down. The special enlists teams of underwater archaeologists to recover parts of the downed plane for the first time and weaves in firsthand accounts from fellow airmen along with underwater footage from the wreck to give a final answer to the mystery.

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Jennifer Driscoll, Jennifer.Driscoll@natgeo.com

Melissa McKeon, Melissa.E.McKeon@natgeo.com