When Capt. Charles Tarlton of the United Parcel Service walks through airports, “people of color” often approach him to shake his hand.

“They tell me they didn’t even know there were black pilots, having never seen one or met one in person – as if I was Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster,” Tarlton said Thursday during a luncheon to celebrate Black History Month at The Miami Herald.

Tarlton said his success story as an African American commercial pilot was made possible in part by the contributions of two of the luncheon’s honorees: retired Lt. Col Eldridge Williams and retired warrant officer Richard Rutledge, both original Tuskegee Airmen.

Williams served as a physical fitness and survival instructor for pilots and crew members and Rutledge, who later became a private pilot and New York Supreme Court judge, served on the ground crew.

“Men like Lt. Col. Williams and Judge Rutledge of the Tuskegee Airmen became mentors and role models for large numbers of pilots and aviation mechanics,” said Tarlton, who got his start as a pilot in the U.S. Navy.

Williams, 94, and Rutledge, 90, now are enjoying the retired life in South Florida. They also are members of the Miami Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, which promotes and preserves the legacy of the history-making group of black men. The chapter also motivates and supports young men and women who dream of careers in aviation.

At Thursday’s luncheon, fifth-grader Zion Moss, 11, told the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, who were formed in 1941 under the orders of President Franklin Roosevelt.

At the time, the military was segregated and the Army was skeptical that African Americans had the skills and intellect to be combat pilots. But the Tuskegee Airmen, who trained at a facility in Tuskegee, Ala., became so proficient at protecting American and Allied bomber planes in World War II missions over Europe and North Africa that those bomber squadrons requested the black fighter pilots as their escorts.

“The Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy of triumph over adversity, to rise above all obstacles is the message they are passing onto future generations,” Moss told the crowd. “Rise above. Aim high. Use your brain. Never quit. … We fight. We fight. We fight.”

After his speech, Zion said it was “cool” that the Tuskegee Airmen “didn’t let racism stop them from fighting for their country even though they weren’t allowed to do some stuff.”

The legend of the Tuskegee Airmen is well known these days. But that wasn’t the case until 1995, when an HBO movie called Red Tails, starring Laurence Fishburne came out. It detailed the Tuskegee Airmen’s heroics battling enemies abroad and Jim Crow laws at home.

Last year, filmmaker George Lucas self-financed a new version of Red Tails, named after the distinctive color code on the 332nd Fighter Group’s vertical plane stabilizers. Williams said he has seen the new movie four times during functions honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. But while he said the special effects are amazing, he said the HBO movie was more true to their real experience. The Lucas version, he said, is “too Hollywood.”

Tarlton wrapped up his own story of becoming a pilot by saying: “While I never had the opportunity to be mentored by such brave men as the Tuskegee Airmen, I recognize their hard work and perseverance, together with their actions, allowed me the opportunity to be the man I am today.”