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Documentary spotlights African American pilots

There's another good Smithsonian Channel documentary this weekend, this one spotlighting African American pioneers in aviation.

"Black Wings" tells the stories of black aviators -- from barnstormers to war fighters -- who broke the racial barriers that for many years kept black Americans from pursuing their dreams of flying.

The documentary tells the story of the Tuskegee Red-Tail Angels, the first African American pilots to train for combat during World War II (the Red-Tails are also the subject of a new George Lucas film).

Bessie Coleman (left), the first African American woman with a pilot's license, is also profiled. In the 1920s, no one in the United States would train a black woman to fly, so Coleman earned enough money to travel to France and train there. She returned to American and became a barnstorming stunt pilot.

For more stories like these, tune in to "Black Wings" on Saturday, February 11 at 9 p.m. or Thursday February 16 at 8 p.m.

Smithsonian Channel is on Time Warner Cable digital channel 1264, DirecTV 565 and 1565, and AT&T U-Verse 118 and 1118.

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