Decorated pilot Harry Stewart, Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, dies at 100

AP | Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., was a member of the 332nd Fighter Group, the first Black military pilots in the U.S. His death was confirmed by the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, which said he passed peacefully at home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Stewart downed three German aircraft in a 1945 dogfight. In 1949, he and three fellow Tuskegee Airmen won the U.S. Air Force Top Gun competition, though their achievement was only recognized decades later.

Born on July 4, 1924, in Virginia, Stewart moved to New York as a child and was inspired to fly while watching planes at LaGuardia Airport. At 18, he joined an experimental program to train Black pilots following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Despite the racism of the Jim Crow-era South, he persevered, eventually escorting U.S. bombers over Europe. The Tuskegee Airmen were credited with protecting more bombers than other fighter groups.

In a 2019 interview, Stewart recalled being moved to tears upon seeing two female African American pilots in a commercial cockpit.

Last month, the Air Force briefly removed training materials featuring the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) under a crackdown on diversity initiatives but quickly restored them after bipartisan backlash.