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On July 13, 1923, James H. Harvey was born.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_13• 1923 - Colonel James H. Harvey, US Army Air Force (later US Air Force) fighter pilot and Tuskegee Airman.
James H. Harvey
Harvey in 2022
Born: July 13, 1923 (age 102); Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
James Henry Harvey III (born July 13, 1923) is a retired United States Army Air Corps/United States Air Force (USAF) officer and former African American fighter pilot who served with 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails", or among enemy German pilots, Schwartze Vogelmenschen {"Black birdmen"}. He is one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots.
Harvey is best known as the first African American USAF jet fighter pilot to fly combat operations in the Korean War. Harvey and his 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won the USAF's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition in 1949. Along with every member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006. Harvey, along with George Hardy, is among the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen.
{snip}
Winner of the 1949 "Top Gun Competition"
In January 1949, the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force sent out a directive to each Air Force group requesting their participation in an aerial weapons competition. Four months later, in May 1949, Harvey joined the 332nd Fighter Group Weapons three-member pilot team to compete at the U.S. Air Force's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition held at the Las Vegas Air Force Base (now Nellis Air Force Base). A grueling 10-day event, the competition comprised six events: aerial gunnery at 20,000 feet, aerial gunnery at 12,000 feet, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocketing firing, and panel strafing. His team led from start to finish.
Harvey's 332nd Fighter Group team included the 100th Squadron's First Lieutenant Harry Stewart Jr., the 300th Squadron's Captain Alva Temple, 99th Squadron's First Lieutenant Halbert Alexander (who served as an alternate pilot), and Staff Sergeant Buford A. Johnson as aircraft crew chief. Harvey and his team competed in P-47N Thunderbolts.
The results and the three-foot-high, silver winning trophy (stashed in a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum storage area for 55 years) were absent from the Air Force archives until 1995. Flying F-47Ns, a variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Harvey and his team won against U.S. Air Force fighter group teams in far more advanced aircraft. Harvey remarked: "They knew who won, but did not want to recognize us."
{snip}
Harvey in 2022
Born: July 13, 1923 (age 102); Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
James Henry Harvey III (born July 13, 1923) is a retired United States Army Air Corps/United States Air Force (USAF) officer and former African American fighter pilot who served with 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails", or among enemy German pilots, Schwartze Vogelmenschen {"Black birdmen"}. He is one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots.
Harvey is best known as the first African American USAF jet fighter pilot to fly combat operations in the Korean War. Harvey and his 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won the USAF's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition in 1949. Along with every member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006. Harvey, along with George Hardy, is among the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen.
{snip}
Winner of the 1949 "Top Gun Competition"
In January 1949, the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force sent out a directive to each Air Force group requesting their participation in an aerial weapons competition. Four months later, in May 1949, Harvey joined the 332nd Fighter Group Weapons three-member pilot team to compete at the U.S. Air Force's inaugural "Top Gun" team competition held at the Las Vegas Air Force Base (now Nellis Air Force Base). A grueling 10-day event, the competition comprised six events: aerial gunnery at 20,000 feet, aerial gunnery at 12,000 feet, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocketing firing, and panel strafing. His team led from start to finish.
Harvey's 332nd Fighter Group team included the 100th Squadron's First Lieutenant Harry Stewart Jr., the 300th Squadron's Captain Alva Temple, 99th Squadron's First Lieutenant Halbert Alexander (who served as an alternate pilot), and Staff Sergeant Buford A. Johnson as aircraft crew chief. Harvey and his team competed in P-47N Thunderbolts.
The results and the three-foot-high, silver winning trophy (stashed in a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum storage area for 55 years) were absent from the Air Force archives until 1995. Flying F-47Ns, a variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Harvey and his team won against U.S. Air Force fighter group teams in far more advanced aircraft. Harvey remarked: "They knew who won, but did not want to recognize us."
{snip}