Harry Stewart Jr.

Harry T. Stewart Jr.
Born (1924-07-04) July 4, 1924 (age 100)
Newport News, Virginia, U.S.
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
RankLieutenant Colonel
Battles / warsWorld War II
AwardsDistinguished Flying Cross
Congressional Gold Medal

Harry Thaddeus Stewart Jr. (born July 4, 1924) is a retired United States Army Air Forces officer, a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, and a fighter pilot who served in the 332nd Fighter Group, best known as the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen.[1]

Stewart shot down three German aircraft in one day during World War II.[2] He is one of only four Tuskegee Airmen, along with Joseph Elsberry, Clarence D. Lester and Lee Archer, to have earned three victories in a single day of aerial combat.[3]

Stewart was also a member of the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team that won the United States Air Force's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition in 1949.[4][5][6][7] Stewart, along with George Hardy and fellow 1949 Top Gun winner James H. Harvey, is among the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen.[8] The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.[9] In 2019, Stewart co-wrote “Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II,” co-written by Philip Handleman.[10]

  1. ^ "Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Roster". CAF Rise Above. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ "James H. Harvey, III". CAF RISE ABOVE. 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  3. ^ "The People | Tuskegee Airmen Inc". Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  4. ^ 'Tuskegee Top Gun' James Harvey, the First African American Jet Combat Pilot, 19 May 2020, retrieved 2024-02-14
  5. ^ "James H. Harvey III | National Air and Space Museum". airandspace.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  6. ^ "Attitude". tuskegeetopgun.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  7. ^ "Tuskegee Airman James Harvey, the Military's First "Top Gun" | American Veterans Center". Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  8. ^ "An Interview with 95-Year-Old Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Harry Stewart". History on the Net Salem Media. 25 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Saluting an American hero". Times Leader. 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  10. ^ Handleman, Philip; Stewart Jr., Harry (2021). Soaring to Glory A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II. Regnery History. ISBN 9781684511914.