Lt.Fisher died in a plane crash just as James was ready to fly solo.Though James,who witnessed the fatal accident was crushed,his determination to fly never flagged.But without Lt.Fisher's help,he was in trouble.No school or individual would lend James the plane he needed so that he could complete his required solo hours in the air.James refused to be daunted.He bought the engine from Lt.Fisher's crashed plane and accumulated plane and auto scraps to build Miss Ames.Flying his rickety homemade craft,he earned his solo flight hours and became the first African American to receive a pilot's license from the United States Department of Commerce.He had no intention of stopping there.
James had no backers and owned a dilapidated plane with a 14-year-old engine.And none of the large newspapers would bother writing about him.James went looking for supporters on his own.He found a gifted mechanic named Thomas Cox Allen,who he persuaded to buy into the adventure for $200.Thomas came up with the ingenious idea to fund their flight by soliciting small donations from people in each town they landed in,whether a warm meal,a place to sleep,or money for gas for the next leg of their journey. The donors would then inscribe their names on what James and Thomas called "The Golden Book"-the wing of the plane.In this way,each contributor would share in a piece of history.Twenty-four communities participated and sixty-five individuals inscribed their names on The Golden Book,as James and Thomas made their way across America.
The dreams of many flew with them.Their adventures were numerious.Because they were African American and had no money,James and Thomas not only had to fly the "crate," they had to be able service it as well.This added to the adventure greatly.At times,they had to replace or rebuild parts that had been destroyed during several "crack-ups" (forced landings),or had malfunctioned while they were still in the air. In one city,they crashed into a farm and the whole town worked to find the right car parts to send them on their way.In another city,Thomas had to sell his suit for gas money.One night they slept in a haystack and came close to freezing to death.
The following morning,a half-frozen Thomas had to stand in front of the plane and guide James between a brush pile and a haystack for takeoff.By prior agreement,Thomas stood in front,of the plane,and guided it along a small stretch of earth.He then hurled his body on the ground when James plane had traveled half the the length of the field.James knew Thomas hurling body meant it was time to pull up her up' and James flew the plane right over the prone Thomas.Thomas then hitched a ride to their destination.Another time,in Pittsburgh,the Democratic Party paid for the last leg of their journey in exchange for James and Thomas tossing 15,000 "Vote Roosevelt" flyers out of the cockpit as they flew over farms and small towns on their way to New York.As James and Thomas finally started to attract some attention,they became known as "the suntanned editions of Lindy." After an exhausting adventure-filled twenty-days of flight.James triumphantly circled the Statue of Liberty and put down at Valley Stream Airport,in the suburds of New York City.Yet James triumph wasn't met by by fanfare,or newspapermen.As a "race pilot," his accomplishment was not considered news-worthy by white-owned newspaper.
Unfazed James began the return flight to Los Angeles.The miles finally took their toll on the old airplane.James crashed-landed in Pennsylvania.This time there would would be no patching it together on the cheapLeaving the plane behind,James along with Thomas,returned West in the back of a bus,where,unlike in the sky,segregation was still a way of life.
James died in a plane crash at the hands of an unlicensed Navy mechanic,while trying to raise money by barnstorming to repair his beloved plane.James was scheduled to fly a number of stunts in an AirTech Air Show.On the day of the show,the Chief Flight instructor,Arnet Speers,refused to allow James to fly in one of his planes.Arnet believed James couldn't be trusted because of the color of his skin.An unlicensed white Naval mechanic offered James the use of his friend's plane.
The mechanic wanted to peform a stunt at the airshow and wanted James to fly with him.James agreed to fly along as a passenger.The mechanic attempted a loop,stalled the plane,and the plane spun into the ground in front of 2,000 horrified spectators.James was pulled from the wreckage alive but unconscious.He died an hour later.When friends of James tried to rescue his plane in honor of him,they found it had,without James knowledge or permission,had been sold for scrap.The Golden Book,the physical record of the journey and all the donors,was destroyed.While "Lucky Lindy," Charles Lindbergh-is a name remembered by many,James faded into obscurity.
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