Eugene J. Richardson, aviator from Mt. Airy in Philadelphia, is flying high at last

FOR MT. AIRY'S Eugene J. Richardson Jr., the last few months have been a whirlwind.

Manhattan parties with George Lucas, Spike Lee, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr.

He's been an honored guest at several movie screenings, a couple of premieres, walked the red carpet, had his photo taken, given interviews, stood for applause and ovations.

It's all well-deserved.

And about 60 years overdue.

All the recent excitement in Richardson's life surrounds the release of the new movie "Red Tails," an action picture celebrating the service of African-American fighter pilots in World War II, the so-called Tuskegee Airmen, including men like Richardson.

The movie opens just days after the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr., famous for his dream about the table of brotherhood.

Richardson, as a kid, had a different kind of dream. He wanted to fly, an urge that overtook him in 1930s Ohio when he attended an air show starring black stunt fliers.

"They called themselves the Black Birds, they flew in these open-cockpit planes and landed in this field where we were standing, and hopped out, and man, I thought that was something else," said Richardson, who started building model planes, reading books about flying, wearing aviator clothes.

When he turned 17, a few years into World War II, by now living in Camden, N.J., he persuaded his reluctant father to allow him to apply for a chance to become one of the vanguard of African-Americans training to become fighter/bomber pilots.

He was accepted, moved through several layers of training at Tuskegee Institute and elsewhere, including South Carolina, where he completed combat training in April '45. The war would end a month later, before he was deployed.

Richardson took great pride in the achievements of his fellow Tuskegee men in Europe, where they shot down 112 enemy planes, including Nazi jets, and were the first (in new P-51 planes) to provide round-trip escorts for bombers flying deep into Germany, where Hitler's frightening war machine was finally destroyed.

Returning airmen began to protest segregation in the military, and the barriers began to crumble.

"I see it as part of the civil rights movement, because President Truman desegregated the military based on the performance of black aviators in combat," said Richardson, who also remembers the "Double V" campaign launched at home by African-American newspapers.

"Victory abroad against fascism, victory at home against racism."

A dual victory that has been a long time coming for Richardson, who had no postwar outlet for his desire to become a commercial pilot.

His experience at Tuskegee, though, opened other doors.

"While I was there, I saw the importance of increasing my education. I hadn't finished high school, and a lot of the guys I met had been to college, one guy was a teacher. So I knew that was where I needed to go," said Richardson, who went to college on the G.I. bill and became an educator in the Philadelphia school system.

He also became the father of Eugene Richardson III, a Marine fighter pilot who did fly commercials jets - he is in charge of training and certification of Boeing 777 pilots at American Airlines.

When surviving members of the soldiers commemorated in "Band of Brothers" flew to Europe for a ceremony honoring their achievements, Richardson III was the pilot.

His dad was a proud passenger.

"I had the chance to fly with him to France. My little boy, grown up, flying me across the ocean. That was a special day."

Richardson Jr. is today retired, but active in helping young people match their natural talents with the right career - a program he calls Find Your Wings.

It's at www.careerc.com.