TAKING FLIGHT

AT 95, HARRY STEWART is sharp-minded, amiable, and talkative. There is a kindness in his voice that belies his achievements: 75 years earlier, Stewart was flying P-51 Mustangs over Europe with the fabled “Red Tails,” the 332nd Fighter Group made up of African American pilots in the then-segregated U.S. military. He flew 43 combat missions—scoring three kills, all in one day—while escorting and protecting heavy bombers to their targets. While Stewart encountered racism throughout his flying career, he has maintained a positive attitude that helped propel him to top positions as an engineer and company executive. Stewart is the subject and collaborator of a new book by Philip Handleman, Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of World War II.

Have you always wanted to fly?

My parents told me that when I was two years old in Virginia, I would crane my neck in my crib to look at planes taking off from nearby Langley