Harry Stewart

Harry Thaddeus Stewart Jr. was born on July 4, 1924, in Newport News, Virginia, and raised in Queens, New York.Growing up near LaGuardia Airport, he was captivated by aviation from an early age. That fascination turned into a calling after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At just 18, Stewart volunteered for the Army Air Forces. He was accepted into the newly established aviation cadet training program for Black pilots, later known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Stewart earned his wings in June 1944, completing pilot training with Class 44-F-SE at Tuskegee. After advanced training in fighter tactics at Walterboro Army Air Field, he was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group’s 301st Fighter Squadron, which was part of the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy. Flying a P-51 Mustang with the famed Red Tails, Stewart completed 43 long-range bomber escort missions over Eastern Europe. On April 1, 1945, during one of those missions over Austria, he shot down three German Focke-Wulf 190s, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was one of only four Tuskegee Airmen to achieve three aerial victories in a single day.

After the war, Stewart remained on active duty and joined a team of Tuskegee pilots who competed in and won the first-ever U.S. Air Force "Top Gun" competition in 1949. Their victory went unacknowledged for decades, as the official records omitted their names until the mid-1990s. Stewart left active duty in 1950 but continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve, eventually retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Hoping to become a commercial pilot, Stewart applied to two major airlines but was denied due to racial discrimination. Undeterred, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from New York University in 1963, during which time he served as president of the student council. He later became vice president of ANR Pipeline Company in Detroit, one of the nation’s largest natural gas suppliers.

Stewart's post-military years were defined by advocacy, public speaking, and efforts to preserve the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. He co-authored the memoir "Soaring to Glory" and received numerous honors, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. He remained active in aviation into his 90s, even taking to the skies again in a two-seat P-51 Mustang.

He passed away at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on February 2, 2025, at the age of 100. One of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., left behind a legacy of courage, excellence, and quiet resolve.