The 332nd Fighter Group, formed by Tuskegee Airmen, had impressive scores and, despite the racial tension at that time, was invited to the competition
Before the U.S. Air Force introduced the William Tell air-to-air competition in 1954, retired USAF Lt. Col. James Harvey and his Tuskegee Airmen teammates traveled to Las Vegas in 1949 to compete at a test airfield outside what is now Nellis Air Force Base. Flying in the first Air Force Weapons Meet—an early version of Top Gun—they won the competition, although their achievement remained unrecognized for decades and the trophy eventually disappeared.
According to Staff Sgt. William P. Coleman of the 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, the Air Force chief of staff issued a directive in May 1949 calling for a competition among the three highest-scoring fighter groups in the United States. It became the first Top Gun-style weapons meet ever held by the Air Force.
The Tuskegee Airmen’s 332nd Fighter Group had posted outstanding scores and, despite the racial tensions of the era, was invited to participate. Its primary competitors were Capt. Alva Temple of the 301st Fighter Squadron, 1st Lt. Harry Stewart of the 100th Fighter Squadron, and 1st Lt. James Harvey of the 99th Fighter Squadron. The alternate pilot was 1st Lt. Halbert Alexander, also of the 99th Fighter Squadron.
Only two trophies were awarded: one for the best team and another for the best individual competitor. Before the team departed, 332nd Group commander Col. Benjamin Davis gave the four pilots a blunt instruction: “If you don’t win, don’t come back.”
The other competitors flew F-51 (P-51) Mustangs and F-82 (P-82) Twin Mustangs, while the Tuskegee Airmen were assigned the outdated F-47 (P-47) Thunderbolt. The competition included aerial gunnery at 12,000 and 20,000 feet, along with dive bombing, skip bombing, rocket firing, and panel strafing.
After completing both aerial-gunnery events, the 332nd Fighter Group held the lead, with Capt. Alva Temple achieving the highest individual score.
“The next day was dive bombing; we didn’t do too good that day; no one did,” James Harvey recalled. “We were still leading at the end of the day, and Capt. Temple was still the high individual.”
The team then excelled in skip bombing, recording the highest score in that event. Pilots released their bombs at extremely low altitude, preventing them from turning nose-first on impact; instead, the bombs struck the ground flat and skipped toward the target. Each pilot was given six bombs.
“Capt. Temple scored six for six, Stewart scored six for six, and I scored six for six,” Harvey recalled. “The next day was rocket firing; Temple had six for six, Stewart had five for six, and I had five for six.”
With the 332nd Fighter Group leading the overall competition and Capt. Temple holding the top individual score, the team felt confident heading into the final event.
“This is my thinking, not the Air Force’s,” Harvey said. “We’ve got a lock on this weapons meet; we’ve won it. Capt. Temple is winning it as a high individual, and they couldn’t stand to see the 332nd win everything.”
During the panel-strafing event, one competitor was forced to abort and restart the mission in another aircraft. After switching planes, the pilot recorded the highest score in the event.
“He went up and clobbered the target; he had tons of bullets in that target,” Harvey said. “I’m thinking, not only did they give him another airplane, they gave him extra bullets.”
The 332nd Fighter Group won the weapons meet, but Temple lost the top individual award after the panel-strafing event. Despite their victory, the group was never identified in official publications as the winner.
Each year, the Air Force Association publishes an almanac listing the winners of the Air Force Weapons Meets from 1949 onward. For decades, the 1949 winner was recorded as unknown. That changed in 1993, when Col. Harry Stewart returned to Nellis Air Force Base, located the relevant records, and presented them to the Air Force. By April 1995, the almanac officially listed the 332nd Fighter Group as the winner of the 1949 weapons meet.
The trophy eventually vanished, but Zellie Orr, president of the Atlanta chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, made locating it a personal mission. After five days of searching, she discovered it in a storage area at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
“If you come out of the gift shop and look 120 degrees to your right you can see it,” Harvey said. “It has been in hiding 55 years.”
Harvey later became the first Black pilot to fly a fighter jet in Korean airspace. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and retired as a lieutenant colonel. Temple also retired as a lieutenant colonel, while Stewart retired from the Air Force Reserve at the same rank. Alexander was killed in an F-86 crash over one of the New England states.
“Be the best you can be; don’t take anything less,” Harvey said. “When you strive to be the best, it will pay off.”
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the forerunner of today’s Air Force. Pilots, navigators, maintenance personnel, bombardiers, instructors, and support staff trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. During World War II, they flew more than 15,000 missions over Europe and North Africa.
Their Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, and North American P-51 Mustangs were distinguished by their signature red tails.
Until April 2023, red-tailed aircraft could frequently be seen across the skies of lower Alabama as pilots from the Alabama Air National Guard’s 100th Fighter Squadron trained in F-16 Fighting Falcons. Based at Dannelly Field, the Red Tails were scheduled to return later that year with the new F-35 Lightning II, continuing the unit’s connection to the Tuskegee Airmen. The 301st Fighter Squadron also traces its lineage directly to the Tuskegee Airmen and currently operates the F-22 Raptor.
Photo by U.S. Air Force and Digital Combat Simulator
