Quick Links James H. Harvey III early life and initial military career Making history in the Korean War First Top Gun winner A pleasing postscript Many military aviation buffs are familiar with Top Gun, both the fictitious film franchise and the real-life Navy fighter pilot training school. Likewise, several military aviation buffs are familiar with the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the heroic African American fighter pilots of WWII who broke racial barriers within the US Armed Forces in addition to breaking ground and blasting Nazi German Luftwaffe fighter planes out of the sky by the bushel basket.
The real-life present-day TOPGUN is now officially known as the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI). The story of how David E. Harris battled racism to become the first African American pilot for a significant United States airline.
What not so many people realize is that (1) the first Top Gun school was a US Air Force venture rather than a US Navy one, and (2) the first Top Gun winner was a Tuskegee Airman. Simple Flying now proudly presents to you the inspiring story of Lieutenant Colonel (USAF, Ret.) James H.
Harvey III. James H. Harvey III early life and initial military career James Henry Harvey III was born on July 13, 1923, in Montclair, New Jersey, and was the eldest of the four children (brother Charles and sisters Dorothy and Cornelia) of James Jr.
and Cornelia Harvey. When James was 13 years of age, the Harvey family relocated to Nuangol.