Among the pilots in the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Force, there were a total of 932 pilots who graduated from the program.  Among these, 355 served in active duty during World War II as fighter pilots.  Sixty-six Tuskegee Airmen died in combat. Overall, The Tuskegee Airmen destroyed 251 enemy airplanes and were awarded a total of 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses for their service.  

The Tuskegee program began in 1941 at the Tuskegee Institute when the 99th Pursuit Squadron was established.  In 1943, the 99th Pursuit Squadron joined the 33rd Fighter Group of North Africa.  More than 10,000 black men and women served as support personnel to the Tuckegee Airmen including navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses and cooks.  

There were approximately 15,000 trailblazers who were part of the historic military flying program to train black aviators.  Some groups such as the 477th Bombardment Group trained with North American B-25 Mitchell bombers though they never served in  combat.  

At the time of the Tuskegee Airmen, racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were still in place in the United States.  The group received their name due to the segregated nature of the United States military.  All African-American military pilots trained at Moton field and Tuskegee Army Air Field close to Tuskegee, Alabama.

According to Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., as of September 2018, the exact number of individuals who actually participated in the Tuskegee Airmen experience between March 22, 1944 and November 5, 1949 are unable to be determined.  At the time the group could confirm there were 13 living Tuskegee Airmen of the 355 Tuskegee Airmen single engine pilots who served in the Mediterranean theatre operation during WWII.  In addition, it was confirmed two of the 32 were prisoners of war.

Lt. Colonel Harry Thaddeus Stewart, Jr. recently passed in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on February 5, 2025 at the age of 100. He was born July 4, 1924 in Newport News, VA.  Harry's mother, Florence (Bright) Stewart aspired to raise her four children in a colorblind word.  So much so, according to his biography, she made sure the family did not subscribe to any black newspapers or magazines.  Harry started building model airplanes and reading magazines like Flying Aces.  In 1939, joining a crowd of 325,000, he attended the dedication ceremony of New York Municipal Airport (now known as LaGuardia).  

Mr. Stewart in 1939 when he attended the dedication ceremony of New York Municipal Airport (now known as LaGuardia).

Harry told his junior high school history teacher his dream was to be a pilot.  In 1939, the United States government began funding training for black pilots and in early 1941 a black aviation unit, overseen by white officers, was activated.  In 1944, Lieutenant Stewart became one of the 922 African Americans who completed the advanced flight training program at Tuskegee, Alabama.  After the war, he became a flight instructor at the Tuskegee airfield.  In 1947, he married Delphine Friend, the sister of a squadron-mate.  Mr. Stewart eventually retired to Bloomfield Hills with his wife who died in 2015.  His daughter, Lori survives him along with nieces and nephews. 

Lt. Col. Stewart and wife, Delphine

Lockbourne Air Force Base

Circa 1949

Harry fought for liberty abroad while being denied its fruits at home.  In relating the gamut of his experiences that range from tragic to triumphant there are lessons to be learned and inspiration to be derived from Stewart and from the other brave and honorable Tuskegee Airmen. 

History Unplugged

Part One

"Colored people aren't accepted as airline plots.  The negro type has not the proper reflexes to make a first-class fighter pilot."

These were the degrading sentiments that faced eighteen year old Lt. Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr. as he journeyed in a segregrated rail car to Army basic training in Mississippi in 1943 though two years later, the twenty-year-old Africian American from New York proved doubters wrong when he was at the controls of a P-51 Mustang.*  Lt. Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr. was one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen of WWII.  The gentleman in this video who interviewed Stewart about his early life, training and combat missions included the mission in which Stewart downed three enemy fighters.  He also discussed the injustices he and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen faced during their wartime service and upon their return home.  Unlike white pilots, Stewart and other Tuskegee flyers faced the extra danger that if they were shot down over enemy territory they could not hide in plain sight with the populaton or expect to live.  Tragically, one of Stewart's friends was shot down and captured.  Stewart and his fighter group defied prejudice expectations and won the first postwar Air Force-wide gunnery competition for propeller-driven fighters.  Stewart flew 43 missions which was almost one every other day from late winter 1944 into the spring of 1945. 

Upon leaving the military, he found himself back in the world his junior high school teacher had warned him about being a black man.  Mr. Stewart saw ads from Trans World and Pan Am seeking pilots and requiring no more than a few hundred hours of flight experience, a fraction of his total. He went to the local Pam Am office and explained his qualifications to a woman sitting behind the desk in the lobby.  She said the airline was not hiring.  He responded he had seen an ad.  A personnel manager then appeared.  "Mr. Stewart, I'm sure you can understand our position.  Just imagine what passengers would think if during a flight they saw a Negro step out of the cockpit and walk down the aisle in a pilot's uniform?"  Mr. Stewart instead found a job in the New York City government's engineering department.  In 1963, after years of night classes, he earned a bachelor's degree in engineeting from New York University.  He went on to work for a series of large corporations including a natural gas supplier in Detroit.  The city of Detroit became home to many other Tuskegee Airmen.  

After being denied piloting jobs with TWA and Pan Am, Stewart obtained honorary Captain status from American Airlines and Delta Airlines. 

 Lt. Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr.

Stewart, fourth from the right in the front row with his Tuskegee class.

His class started with 75 cadets and ended with 26 graduates.

Lt. Col. Stewart's Biography

Circa 2019

*Introduction date of the P-51 Mustang was January 1942.  The letter, "P" stood for pursuit. It was retired from military service in 1984 with the Dominican Air Force.  The Mustang flew at 430 miles per hour at 30,000 feet.  The Tuskegee Airmen were nicknamed the "Red Tails" because of the distinctive red paint on the tails of their fighter planes.  They flew more than 15,000 sorties which means "a going out" or "rise up" between 1943 and 1945.  

P-15 Mustang

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during WWII and the Korean War.  It was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kindelberger.  

In 1949, Lieutenant Stewart and three other Tuskegee Airmen won the first-place trophy in the propeller-plane category of an aerial gunnery competition.  The trophy was put on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio in 2004.

In 2018, as recounted in his biography, Mr. Stewart and his daughter, Lori happened to be driving by the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio and paid the musuem as special visit.  There, he strolled by an open-cockpit trainer he could have used at Tuskegee and a P-51 Mustang, his combat plane.  His eye was soon drawn to an object illuminated by an overhead lamp.  A pewter "top gun" trophy from 1949.  Its base includes a bronze plaque which bears his name.  Near the trophy was a blown-up photograph of Mr. Stewart as a 24 year old.  Other museum visitors noticed the gentleman who was lost in reverie.  They asked Ms. Stewart if her father had anything to do with the exhibit.  "Oh yes", she said "My Dad is a Tuskegee Airman".  Some visitors started asking him questions.  More people appeared.  A line formed.  Strangers wanted his autograph.  After an hour, Mr. Stewart and his daughter excused themselves.  they had a four-hour drive ahead of them back to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  

Before leaving, Mr. Stewart paused for one last look at his old trophy.

Rest in Eternal Peace, Lt. Col. Harry T. Stewart

He has gone off into the Wild Blue Yonder to rejoin his heroic brothers

Soaring forever in Eternity

Fly High and Strong 

Job Well done, Sir

Post Journal Article

February 6, 2025

AP Photo

 The Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated, determined young men who enlisted to become America's first black military aviators at a time when they were many who thought black men lacked intelligence, skill, courage and patriotism.  They came from every corner of the country.  Each of them had a strong personal desire to serve the United States of America to the best of his ability.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Tuskegee Airmen for their service to our Country.

Thank you, Gentlemen.

http://cafriseabove.org

In 2009, when the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum brought one of the few flying AT-6 trainers that had been used during the war to its home in Detroit, Mr. Stewart was invited to fly along on that flight.