Overview

• Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. announced Hardy’s death and identified him as the last of the group’s World War II pilots.
• He was 19 when he flew his first combat sortie over Europe, becoming the youngest Red Tail fighter pilot to do so.
• Hardy completed 21 missions over Germany in WWII and later flew 45 combat missions in the Korean War and 70 in the Vietnam War, according to the National WWII Museum.
• Between deployments he earned engineering degrees at the Air Air Force Institute of Technology and helped develop the Department of Defense’s first worldwide military telephone system.
• After retiring from the Air Force in 1971, he championed the Tuskegee Airmen’s history, with group honors including the 2007 Congressional Gold Medal and the National WWII Museum’s 2024 American Spirit Award he accepted on their behalf.