Overview

• Hardy’s death at age 100 was announced Friday by Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.; the cause was not disclosed.
• He earned his wings as a teenager and became the youngest Red Tail combat pilot at 19, flying 21 missions from Italy in 1945.
• He later flew 45 combat missions in the Korean War and 70 in the Vietnam War during a nearly three-decade military career.
• After service, he earned engineering degrees and helped develop the Defense Department’s first worldwide military telephone system before retiring in 1971 as a lieutenant colonel.
• The organization says 13 documented original Tuskegee Airmen remain alive; Hardy accepted the National WWII Museum’s American Spirit Award in 2024 and the group received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.