Tuskegee Airmen: Lt. Col. Harry Stewart

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