Pilot to Pilot podcast episode 73 FT. Tuskegee Airmen: Lt. Col. Harry Stewart.
What is going on Avination?! Welcome back to the Pilot to Pilot podcast. Today, I am talking with WWII Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Harry Stewart. In this episode Lt. Col. Harry Stewart and I talk about.
- Why Lt. Col. Harry Stewart wanted to get into aviation.
- How Laguardia used to be called North Beach Airport
- How some aviation legends led Lt. Col. Harry Stewart to dream towards the sky.
- How there was a limited opportunity for Lt. Col. Harry Stewart to become a pilot.
- Six months before World War II the Air Corps was willing to train African Americans as pilots.
- How all training was supposed to be segregated.
- Where and why Tuskegee was started.
- Why the military wouldn’t let African Americans become pilots.
- How there was no way they could create a segregated training environment.
- Lt. Col Harry Stewart talks about the greatest irony to segregation.
- We talk about what the environment was like in training.
- Why instructors came to Tuskegee?
- How his parents reacted when he was selected to go to Tuskegee.
- Lt. Col Harry Stewart talks about life growing up in NY.
- Talks about the warning His parents gave him about going south.
- How Lt. Col. Harry Stewart had his eyes on the prize (becoming a pilot)
- Lt. Col. Harry Stewart talks about fulfilling his dream of flying for the first time.
- Lt. Col. Harry Stewart goes into great detail about his training in WWII.
- How he received his wings before he could fly a plane.
- Did he ever feel overwhelmed in his training?
- Talks about the pressure he was under while in his training.
- Lt. Col. Harry is Stewart flew 43 missions in WWII.
- Lt. Col. Goes into extreme detail about a few dogfights.
- How Lt Co. shot down three airplanes.
- Lt. Col. Explains what Mission Whiskey is.
- How bomber pilots became very appreciative of the red tails.
- Talks about a day when 25 bombers had to divert to their field.
- Where the name Tuskegee airmen came from
- Talks about Tuskegee airmen winning the first Top Gun competition.
- Lt. Col. Talks about being a huge part of integration and the end of segregation.
- How once the war ended Lt. Col Harry Stewart had to come back to the same Jim Crow America he left
- Lt Col talks about life after WWII and how he wasn’t able to continue his aviation career because of the color of his skin.
- Lot Col. Harry Stewart talks about how great it was to see two African American pilots that were also women.
I hope you enjoy today's episode. If you do please leave a review on iTunes and support the podcast on Patreon!
Happy Flying,
Justin
