Overview

The valiant fight for freedom in the air and dignity on the ground He had to sit in a segregated rail car on the journey to army basic training in Mississippi in 1943. But two years later, the twenty-year-old African American from New York was at the controls of a P-51, prowling for Luftwaffe aircraft at 5,000 feet over the Austrian countryside. By the end of World War II, he had done something that nobody could take away from him: He had become an American hero. This is the remarkable true story of Lieutenant Colonel Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. Award-winning aviation writer Philip Handleman re-creates the harrowing action and heart-pounding drama of Stewart's combat missions, including the legendary mission in which Stewart downed three enemy fighters. Soaring to Glory also reveals the cruel injustices Stewart and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen faced during their wartime service and upon return home after the war. Stewart's heroism was not celebrated as it should have been in postwar America. But now, his boundless courage and determination will never be forgotten.

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9781982695545

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Reviews

This book is a masterpiece. -- Colonel Charles E. McGee, USAF (ret.), former president, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about the pioneering flyers who broke barriers and changed the world! -- Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Jefferson, USAF (ret.), cofounder, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. All Americans owe Harry Stewart Jr. and his fellow airmen a huge debt for defending our country during World War II. In addition, they have inspired generations of African American youth to follow their dreams. -- Henry Louis Gates Jr, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

Author Information

Philip Handleman is the author of twenty-three aviation books and recipient of awards for his contributions to aviation, including the Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award from the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum. He has piloted antique planes for many years at his airstrip. Lt. Col. Harry Stewart was born in Newport News, Virginia and grew up in New York City. He signed up for war service when he was seventeen and passed the exam for Tuskegee's pilot training program. He learned to fly a plane before he learned to drive a car. In 1944 he was sent to Italy with the 301st Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group. He would fly forty-three combat missions there, including a 1945 mission where he shot down three Germans in one day. He was honorably discharged from service in 1950 and went on to have a successful career in mechanical engineering. Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine ""Best Of"" Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.

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