Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of World War II
About this audiobook
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.
About the author
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.
Read by Arthur Morey, Joe Barrett, Adenrele Ojo, Pam Ward, Ann Richardson, Roxanne Hernandez, Mirron Willis, Robin Miles, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Caroline Shaffer, Pamela Almand, Janina Edwards, Hillary Huber, Nancy Wu, Mark Branhall, Karen White, Neil Shah, and Erica Sullivan
