Trinity Sims said she saw the “Red Tails” movie about the Tuskegee Airmen as a little girl.

But the 18-year-old Michigan State University student from Detroit probably never thought she’d fly a plane in an aerial salute as part of a memorial ceremony for one of those legendary African-American World War II fighter pilots.

“I’m excited to be able to honor (Col. Stewart),” said Sims, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, about an hour before she was scheduled to take off.

She was one of four teenage student pilots who gathered on Friday at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport on Detroit’s east side to honor one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen who died earlier this year.

She and her fellow student aviators participated in a nine-plane flyover during the private burial ceremony for Lt. Col. Harry T. Stewart Jr. in Holly.

Stewart, who had been one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen combat pilots, died Feb. 2 at his Bloomfield Hills home. He was 100.

He is survived by his daughter, Lori Collette Stewart, and a host of extended family and friends.

Friday’s student flyover was organized by the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, which features planes and flight education programs at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport and exhibits within the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

Brian Smith, the museum’s president and CEO, said the funeral flyover is the first time the museum has put students in the event.

“We’re trying to honor Col. Stewart’s last wish to me, which was to have a flyover at his interment,” Smith said in the museum’s hangar at the airport. “Harry Stewart participated in many of these funeral flyovers over the years for his comrades and fellow airmen who passed on. He saw how impressive a flyover is and what it means to those they leave behind.”

Smith also said Stewart once gave him a photo of a bi-plane flying into the sunset, looking for that last place to land.

“That picture brought tears to my eyes that day because I knew he realized his final day was coming,” Smith said. “I realized his final day was coming, too, and how much I would miss him.”

Sims said she has flown aircraft before and wasn’t nervous. She said it was the first time she would be a pilot in a funeral flyover.

“I think this is going to be very special,” Sims said. “Especially, because of what the Tuskegee Airmen mean to aviation and our country.”

Eden Fante, 17, a Lakeview High School student from St. Clair Shores, was set to ride in Sims’ plane along with instructor Michael Rodriguez.

She was also excited to be a part of the flyover.

“I think it’s a very cool opportunity to do something very few people ever get to do,” Fante said.

All of the students in the flyover received instruction in the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum’s programs.

Students took off in the early afternoon to fly over the private burial ceremony for Stewart in Holly, according to museum officials. The students were in two different aircraft with their flight instructors, Smith said.

They joined active duty Air National Guard airmen and historical Tuskegee Airmen aircraft in the procession in the sky, he said.

Their planes flew over the ceremony as part of a mix of aircraft, including an original T-6 trainer like the one that Stewart once flew himself. Smith said he would be piloting the T-6 trainer.

He added that some of the aircraft fly in what’s called the missing man formation, which means one breaks away from the group at some point to represent their missing comrade.

Smith said the flight is part of a daylong memorial that began with the burial and ended with a public 3 p.m. memorial service in the museum’s hangars at the airport.

Born on July 4, 1924, in Newport News, Va., Stewart was a World War II pilot with the Army Air Forces’ 332nd Fighter Group, the first African American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces.

Together, the 332nd and the 477th Bombardment Group were known as the Tuskegee Airmen, a name derived from their initial training at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Ala. They also became known as the “Red Tails” because of the distinctive red paint used on the tails of their fighter aircraft. The pilots became one of the most respected fighter groups in the war.

Stewart, who was 99 years old at the time, said in 2023 that he joined the military in 1943 when he was 18. He said he volunteered because he knew he would be stuck with a menial labor position if he were drafted and had always wanted to fly.

He also said none of the Tuskegee Airmen received their deserved recognition until decades later, when the TV movie “The Tuskegee Airmen” aired in 1995 and the “Red Tails” motion picture debuted in 2012.

Stewart flew 43 combat missions in Italy with the 301st Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group in 1944, including taking down three German Focke-Wulf 190s on April l, 1945. The feat occurred while on a mission to escort and provide cover for B-24 bombers on a raid over Linz, Austria. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In 1949, he competed in the “William Tell” National Gunnery meet in Nevada as part of a team representing the 332nd. His team won.

After the war, Stewart earned a mechanical engineering degree in 1963 from New York University, according to museum officials. He also served as a vice president at Detroit-based ANR Pipeline Co.

Stewart was the subject of a biography, “Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of World War II,” written by Philip Handleman.

“Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service that he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II,” Smith said in a statement. “Part of his service was inspiring generations of young people to dream big, work hard, and become aviators.”

“The students participating in this flyover bring to life his enduring legacy. We are both humbled and proud of these students’ commitment to honor Lt. Col. Harry Stewart. He would be proud.”