Harry Stewart Jr.
Harry Stewart Jr. | |
|---|---|
Stewart in 1944. | |
| Born | July 4, 1924 Newport News, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | February 2, 2025 (aged 100) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S. |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Congressional Gold Medal |
| Spouse(s) |
Delphine Stewart (died 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
Harry Thaddeus Stewart Jr. (July 4, 1924 – February 2, 2025) was an American fighter pilot. He was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces, and a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient who served in the 332nd Fighter Group, best known as the all–African American Tuskegee Airmen.
Stewart shot down three German aircraft in one day during World War II. 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.
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. Stewart, along with George Hardy and fellow 1949 Top Gun winner James H. Harvey, was among the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006. In 2019, Stewart co-wrote Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II, co-written by Philip Handleman.