Wendell Oliver Pruitt

Wendell Oliver Pruitt (June 20, 1920 – April 15, 1945) was an American military pilot and Tuskegee Airman originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He was killed during a training exercise in 1945. After his death, his name, along with that of William L. Igoe, was given to the Pruitt–Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis.

Biography Pruitt grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, as the youngest of ten children to Elijah and Melanie Pruitt and attended Sumner High School. He then furthered his education at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, becoming a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Military career Pruitt, already a licensed pilot, enlisted in the Army Air Corps Cadet Flying Program in Tuskegee, Alabama, eventually graduating and being commissioned as a second lieutenant on December 11, 1942. landed direct hits on an enemy destroyer that sank at Trieste harbor in northern Italy. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action. Thereafter, the 332nd flew the P-51 Mustang as their primary fighter aircraft.

Pruitt teamed with Lee Archer to form the famed "Gruesome Twosome", the most successful pair of Tuskegee pilots in terms of air victories. The "Gruesome Twosome" are featured in a History Channel show entitled Dogfights: Tuskegee Airmen. Pruitt flew seventy combat missions, was credited with three enemy kills, and reached the rank of captain.

Overall, Pruitt was one of the Tuskegee Airmen pilots with at least three confirmed kills during World War II.

Death Pruitt was killed, along with a student pilot, during a training exercise in Tuskegee, Alabama, on April 15, 1945.

Honors

U.S. decorations and badges

Things named for Pruitt The Pruitt–Igoe Housing Project (along with William L. Igoe) A Martian rock studied by the Mars Spirit Rover A St. Louis elementary school and a military school