Retired Lieutenant Colonel Harry Stewart Jr., a decorated combat pilot of the 332nd Fighter Group and one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, has died. He was 100 years old.

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum confirmed Stewart’s death to the Associated Press, saying he passed away peacefully at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on Sunday.

Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African American had ever been a US military pilot. At First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s insistence, the first African American fighter squadron was created in 1941. The 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group came to symbolize African American participation in World War II. Overall, the 992 Tuskegee-trained pilots logged over 15,000 sorties and nearly 1,600 fighter missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, protecting B-24 bombers from aircraft fire and destroying enemy targets.

Stewart was born in Newport News, Virginia, and grew up in Queens, New York. As a child, he was fascinated with flying, building balsa wood model airplanes and becoming a member of the Junior Birdmen of America.

In 1942, Stewart dropped out of high school and volunteered for aviation cadet training in the US Army Air Forces. He made high marks in his entrance and aptitude exams and won admission into the aviation cadet program.

Sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama in April 1943 for flight training, Stewart was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in July 1944 at 19 years old. After a brief leave, he was transferred to Walterboro Army Air Field for several weeks of intensive fighter tactics training before being shipped to Italy. (Click Below for the Full Article)

Lt. Colonel Harry Stewart amassed one of the most distinguished records of any pilot with the ‘Red Tails,’ shooting down three German fighters in one day, and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

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