Tuskegee Airman, retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., has died at age 100. He had dreamed of flying since he was a child in New York, watching planes at LaGuardia airport. He went on to earn the Distinguished Flying Cross for downing three German aircraft during a dogfight in 1945, and was part of a team of four Tuskegee Airmen who won the U.S. Air Force Top Gun flying competition in 1949 — an achievement that would not be recognized until decades later. After leaving the military, Stewart hoped to become a commercial pilot, but was rejected because of his race. He told Michigan Public Radio in 2019 he had recently been moved to tears on a flight. “When I entered the plane, I looked into the cockpit there and there were two African American pilots. One was the co-pilot, and one was the pilot. But not only that, the thing that started bringing the tears to my eyes is that they were both female,” he said. Here's more from @AssociatedPress about his incredible life and accomplishments.
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