Wendell Oliver Pruitt (June 20, 1920 – April 15, 1945) was an American military pilot and Tuskegee Airman[1] originally from St. Louis, Missouri.

[3] 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.

In June 1944, Pruitt and his occasional wingman, 1st Lt. Gwynne Walker Peirson,[5] landed direct hits on an enemy destroyer that sank at Trieste harbor in northern Italy.

Pruitt teamed with Lee Archer to form the famed "Gruesome Twosome", the most successful pair of Tuskegee pilots in terms of air victories.

[7] Pruitt flew seventy combat missions, was credited with three enemy kills, and reached the rank of captain.