Sergeant William Robinson Clarke (October 4 1895-April 26 1981)

Was a Jamaican World War I airman who was the first black pilot to fly for Britain.He was born in Kingston Jamaica,son of Eugenia Clarke.William 
became a mechanic,and was of the first individuals in Jamaica to learn to drive.On the outbreak of  war in 1914 William,aged,19 travelled to England at his own cost.He joined the Royal Flying Corps on July 26 1915.He served as a mechanic and then as a driver for an observation balloon company.

In December 1916 he began pilot training,gaining his wings on April 26 1917.He was posted to No.4 Squadron RFC  at Abeele on May 27,flying R.E.8 
biplanes over the Western Front.In common with many pilots of the era his operational service was brief.On the morning of July 28 1917,on a reconnaissance mission over Ypres,five miles on the German side of  the lines,
William and his observer,Second Lieutenant F.P. Blencowe,were attacked by German scouts.William was serious wounded and lost consciousness.The observer brought the aeroplane back to the British lines on making a forced landing near Godewaersvelde.

In a letter to his mama, William wrote: "I was doing some photographs a few miles the other side when about five huns scouts came down upon me,and before I could get away,I got a bullet through the spine.managed to pilot the machine nearly back to the aerodrome,but had to put her down as I was too weak to fly any more... he was honourably discharged in 1919,receiving the 
Silver Star Badge.

After recovering from his wounds William returned to Jamaica.He was later active in the building trade.He was active in veterans affairs and was life president of the Jamaican branch of the Royal Air Forces Association.

"Azellia-White" (1913 Gonzales,Texas)

Is the first African-American woman to earn a pilot's license in Texas.She and her husband ran the Sky Ranch Flying Service,an airport and flight school for African-American aviators.In 1936 she married Hulon "Pappy" White. Five years later they relocated to Tuskegee,Alabama, where Hulon worked as an airplane mechanic with the Tuskegee Airmen. Azellia was inspired by a visit from Eleanor Roosevelt in 1941,after which Eleanor encouraged her husband to let the Tuskegee Airmen,fly in World War II.Azellia began training there, flying a Taylorcraft of several Tuskegee Airmen. She earned her private pilot's license on March 26,1946.

After World War II ended, the Whites moved to South Houston.Together with Tuskegee Airmen Ben Stevenson and Elton "Ray" Thomas,they  founded the Sky Ranch Flying Service in 1946. Located on the Taylor-Stevenson Ranch,the Sky Ranch Flying Service was an airport for Houston's African American community and provided charter flights as well as flying lessons.Azellia was not an official owner,She was popular around the airport.Flying students often asked her to take them for rides,and she would sometimes play pranks on them in midair,taking them by surprise with stunts.Because travel by land exposed African-Americans to potential harassment or assault,she would sometimes fly from town to town with her niece to go shopping.Sky Ranch Service when laws restricted the use of the G.I. Bill and caused business to slow.

Azellia was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame in April in 2018.In Houston the Aviation Science Lab at Sterling High School was named in her honor.Principal Justin Fuentes called her "a powerful reminder to our students that they can be anything they want to be and achieve.No one can stop them.

"John-"Charles-Robinson"{November 26,1903-March 26,1954}

Was an American aviator and activist who was hailed as the "Brown Condor" for his service in serving in the imperial Ethiopian Air Force against Fascist Italy.John pushed for equal opportunities for African-Americans during his early career,and was able to open his own eponymous aviation school in

addition to initiating a program for  African-American pilots  at his college,Tuskegee University.His achievements as an aviator were in stark constract to the limited opportunities for most African-Americans in aviation careers,and were and important factor in reducing racially based prohibitions in the United States.John is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Tuskegee Airmen" for inspiring this all-African-American set of pilots who served during the United States' entry into World War II.

John was born in Carrabelle,Florida,and spent his early years in Gulfport,Mississippi.His birth daddy died when he was a baby,leaving himself and his four-year-old sister,Bertha,with their mama Celeste Robinson,who married Charles Cobb.John was inspired by flight at an early age.According to one account,in 1910 Charles was seven when he witnessed a float-equipped biplane flown by John Moisant  in Gulfport,Mississippi.

He completed his education at Gulf port High School for the Colored in 1919,where he developed a strong interest mechanics and machinery.John could not continue his education in Gulf port;African-Americans were barred from continuing their education beyond the tenth grade.Charles subsequently made preparations to attend Tuskegee University in Alabama.He first attended college at Tuskegee on September 21 to study automotive mechanical science,graduating three years later.In addition to studying automobiles,he learned math,

literature,composition and history.He repeatedly applied to the Curtiss-Wright School of Aviation in Chicago,John was denied each time.He ended up getting a job there as a janitor and unofficially sat in on classes until an instructor managed to secure a place for him,and was the first African-American student at the school.

Prior to entering college,John held short-term job as a shoeshine man before getting a job as a warehouse personnel.After finishing his college degree,John was unable to find a suitable career in his hometown of Gulf port.John attributed this to racial discrimination as many of the local garages were under white ownership;speaking to his daddy,he said,"[The garage owners will ] give me a job sweeping me a job sweeping,filling gas tanks,changing tires,or washing,I'm an engine... when I talk to [them] about automotive science they smile,look at each other,and then look at me like belonged behind a mule and a plow.

John consequently moved to Detroit where jobs in the automotive  industry might be more plentiful.There,he had difficulty finding a line of work that his college degree would have ensured him,mainly due to his extensive  knowledge on the trade being unwelcomed by those who could not keep up with his intellect.John continued to refuse jobs sweeping or as a messenger boy,and managed to become a mechanic's assistant instead.Despite continued discrimination and failure to acknowledge his experience from some of white coworkers,John's  skill was noticed and he was promoted to a full mechanic and was given a pay raise.Sometime later,he was approached by taxi cab owner named Fitzgerald who offered to double his pay to work for his garage.John took the job,he was never comfortable working for a business that secretly bootlegged whiskey to Canada during Prohibition Age.

Despite his successes as a mechanic,John began searching for means to take to the air.He was eventually directed to a small field,where he

met pilots  Robert Williamson and Percy earned his first flight in Robert's WACO-9 after fixing engine on Percy's Curtiss JN-4D (Jenny). John was determined as ever to get back into the air,and sought his next best chance to do so in Chicago.After opening a garage for income,he repeatedly applied for Curtiss-Wright School of  Aviation.

John was rejected  every time,circumnavigated this roadblock altogether by becoming a janitor on Saturday nights,thereby being able to listen in on the lessons being taught in the evening class at the time. Becoming exposed to like-minded individuals in the subject,John

started the Aero Study Group,one  that successfully manage to build its own airplane,tested out by the same teacher whose class Charles cleaned,Bill Henderson.Impressed;by the plane;Bill got John a slot at the school and under the instructions of  Mr.Snyder,became a licensed pilot.Before long,John convinced the school to allow his peers from the Aero Study Group to enroll and become pilots as well.Later,John along with his friend Cornelius Coffey formed the Challenger Air Pilots Association for African Americans wanting to fly.

Deciding that aviation school should not be closed to African Americans,John  and his friend Cornelius Coffey opened their own airfield  in Robbins,Illinois,the John Robinson School of Avivation. To further promote African-American pilots  John convinced  his old college Tuskegee University,to open up a school of aviation,as soon as funds were available to do so.

In January 1935,John announced his intentions to volunteer to defend Ethiopia in its ongoing conflict with Italy,the announcement took place at a meeting of African-American business owners and community leaders sponsored by the Associated Negro Press (ANP) in

Chicago.Dr. Halaku Bayen, a cousin of  Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie,became aware of John's announcement and  qualifications, and met with  John directly.Dr.Halaku subsequently made a favorable

recommendation for John to Haile.In April 1935,Haile wired an official invitation to John offering an officer's commission in Ethiopian.

John's decision to accept the commission was based on several factors.First,John and his colleagues were political and military activists motivated to aid Ethiopian as it was threatened by an imperialistic Italy under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini; and as Ethiopia was non-colonized,it  represented the large idea of a free and

independent Africa that John supported.Second,opportunities for African Americans aviators in the United States were limited,particularly in the  U.S. Army  Air  Corps,where  all African Americans were explicitly prohibited from service.Lynching by white mobs also continued to be common both  in  John's hometown in  Florida  as well as in Mississippi.Finally, having already  earned recognition for his all-African American military  aviation unit  in Illinois as part of the National  Guard,John  was  interested  in building and maintaining a  similar unit  in Ethiopia  to promote  black

political consciousness.

After arriving in 1935, John initially conducted pilot training at a recently opened officer training school to  Addis Abba.On August 8 1935,John was assaulted by fellow aviator Hubert Julian at the Hotel de  France in Addis Abba.Hubert,a recognized aviator from Trinidad who volunteered  to help develop the Ethiopia Air  Corps,was then ordered by the Emperor to leave the country.Soon after the incident,

John  was then named the commander of the Ethiopia Air Force.The air force consisted of  about two dozen aircraft,which included four Potez 25 biplanes,all of the aircraft were weaponless.Early in his command,John participated in a reconnaissance mission to provide supplies and soldiers from addis ababa to Adwa.The Italian invasion began on October 3,1935.The eventual  force totaled  to 19 aircraft and 50 pilots.Ethiopian forces,were ultimately outmatched by the Italian air force,who had advantages in experience and in sheer numbers.On May 9,1936,Italy annexed Ethiopia. 

John  was also a witness to an Italian bombing of the city of  Adwa in

October 1935.He  observed that the city was unprepared  for the attack,and resulted in much confusion and residents fleeing  to the city outskirts."I saw  a squad  of soldiers standing in the streets dumbfounded,looking at the airplanes .They had their swords raised in their hands,"he described.

For service,John received considerable press attention for his service though NBC Radio,the Transradio Press Service,and the Chicago Defender.John returned to the United States in 1936.Conteporary historians also recognize his achievements in Ethiopia.

John's documented achievements in Ethiopia are considered to be the catalyst that inspired demands for social equalityto allow  African-Americanto serve in the U.S.Army Air Corps,and allowed for the organization of the African-American military pilot group,the Tuskegee Airmen,during World War II.

John completed his education at Gulfport High School for the Colored i

"Lewis-A-Jackson" [12 29,1912-January 8,1994]

He was born in Angola Indiana,and while still in grade school,he made model airplanes and read about crosswind landings in encyclopedias.At the age 15,he had his first ride in an OX5 Swallow.Two years later,he design and flew his own hang glider-biplane and monoplane,purchased a partially completed Alco Sports Monoplane,and installed a motorcycle engine on it.In 1930 Lewis began formal flight instruction and by 1932,with five different pilots providing instructions,Lewis soloed in his own Waco 10 airplane.


From 1923-1937,the branstromed throughout Indiana and Ohio,earning money as he acquired a Transport Pilot's License.In 191939,he was re-rated to commercial License with Instructor Rating.That same year,he earned a B.S. degree in Education at Indiana Wesleyan University.Lewis taught in the public schools.His real love was flying,and in 1940,he joined Cornelius Coffey in the Coffey and Jackson Flying School in Chicago,and completed advanced acrobatic training at Chicago School of Aeronautics.


In October of the same year,he went to Tuskegee where,he was appointed Director of training at the Army Air Corps 66th Flight Training Detachment,which prepared pilots who would eventually fly in the 99th Pursuit Squadron.As director,he guided the school to high standards of performance and on three different occasions,his students ranked first when compared to the other 22 schools in the Southeast Army Air Corps Training Command.After the war Lewis moved to Ohio,became an FAA Flight Examiner,and tested over 400 pilots flight certifications from 1947-1960.


He developed an aircraft computer called a NAV-KIT which was used by many pilots in obtaining their licenses.His other activities and successes included a multi-engine rating and appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee,FAA,President of Experimental  Aircraft Association.In 1948,Lewis received his Master's Degree from Miami University,Oxford Ohio,and 1950,a Ph.D in Higher Education in the United States from Ohio State University.The title of his dissertation was "A study of Aviation Courses and  facilities in Higher Education in the United States with Predictions and Future Trends." Lewis spent a year as associate professor of Aviation at Ohio State University and wrote an unpublished book titled,"The Fundamentals of  Flight."


His life was also dedicated to education as well as avivation.Lewis began teaching in 1936 in a one-room,eight-grade school.After World War II in 1946,he began teaching at the college level,and served in many college and university administrative positions,including Graduate Dean,Dean of Students,Vice President for Academic Affairs,Acting President and President,Central State University,and Acting President and Vice President for Administration at Sinclair Community College.


Another of  Dr.Jackson's great interests was in entrepreneuship.In 1974 he fostered the business entrepreneur program at Sinclair Community College.He felt that more students should think as employers and thus be more self-reliant;that in this way,students would be taught to create employment.He receive many honors;Distinguished Alumnus Award,Indiana Wesley University,Alumni Association;Frontier Award,First Frontiner Inc;Pioneer,Achievement,Trail Blazer Award,Avivation Adminstration,Certificate of  Appreciation,xenia Area Development Corporatiom.


He served a number of years of the Greene County Regional Airport and the Board of Directors of  the Xenia Area Development Corporation."An Airplane in every garage" was a goal of  Dr.Jackson.Until a few months before his death,he was still working on such a design that would accommodate the common man-an airplane which could be stored at home and towed or driven to the airport.In 1956 Dr.Jackson created and flew Versatile I (the first of ten experimental airplanes) developed to served as both an airplane and a car.The idea was to drive it to the airport,take off ,return,and then drive it home.

"James-Herman-Banning" (November 5,1899-Februrary 5,1933)

Despite prejudice and lack of resources,he decided that one day he was going to fly an airplane.What he didn't know was that the only way he was going to be able to fly enough hours to earn a pilot's license would be able to build his own plane.James grew up,moved  to Iowa,and applied to flight schools.No flight schools would take

him.He found a pilot, Lt.Fisher,who agreed to teach James to fly as long as their lessons were on the sly.


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.

"Emory-Conrad-Malick" [December 29,1881-December 1958]

He grew up in central Pennsylvania,first in Seven Points,then in nearby

Sunbury.There he built his own gliders and flew them across the Susquehanna River to his job as a farmhand and carpenter over on Cattle Weiser's farm.By 1910,Emory had taken his aviation skills to Philadelphia,where he later transported passengers for the Flying Dutchman Air Service and took aerial photographs for Dallin Aerial Surveys.He also worked as a carpenter and master tile-layer.


Emory was the first licensed African American aviator,earning his International Pilot's License ( Federation Aeronautique Internationale,or F.A.I.,license),#105,on March 20,1912,while attending the Curtiss Aviation School on North Island,San Diego,California,when he was 31 making him also the first African American to get a pilot's license in the United States.After earning his pilot's license Emory obtained,assembled and improved upon a Curtiss "pusher" biplane that in 1914 he flew over Selinsgrove,Pennsylvania becoming the first pilot to soar through the skies of Snyder and Norththumberland,Counties.


In March 1928 at a Camden,New Jersey airshow,Emory took two passengers for quick hop in his Waco three-seater.They were barely aloft when the engine died.Emory banked to the left to avoid spectaators;unfortunately,the wind caught the aircraft,and the Waco crashed."The entire plane seemed to crumple as if it been smitten by the fist of a giant," reported the Sunbury (Pennsylvania) Daily item.The two passengers were injured.Later that year,Emory crashed again the cause isn't known this time injuring himself and killing his passenger.He never flew again.


He remained interested in aviation;at a flying club banquet,Emory displayed the 60-horsepower engine that powered his 1914 flight over the town.But the aviator refused all opportunities to go flying.Documents at the Snyder County Historical Society say that in the 1930s,when local pilots offered to take Emory flying,he would reply," I had my fun,and now I'm done." In December 1958 Emory slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk in Philadelphia.He died in the hospital.With no identification on him,his body was unclaimed in the morgue for more than a month,until his identity could be established.

"Charles Alfred Anderson" (February 9,1907-April 13,1996)

Often called "the Father of Black Aviation," because of training and mentoring of hundreds of African Americans pilots,was born in Bryn

Mawr,Pennsylvania,a Philadelphia suburd.His parents were Janie & Iverson Anderson.Charles earned the name "Chief" because he was the most ranked and experienced African American pilot before coming Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAA) in 1940.By that point he had amassed 3,500 hours of flight prompting most of his contemporaries,and students to call him by that name as a sign of their respect for his accomplishments.Charles was also the Chief flight instructor for all cadets and flight instructors at Tuskegee during World War II.

While growing up in Bryn Mawr,Charles developed an interest in aviation.In August 1929,at the age of 22,he borrowed $2,500 from friends and relatives,bought a used airplane,and taught himself to fly.Later that year he received License,No.7638.In 1932,Charles received a commercial pilot's license and air-transport pilot license becoming the first African-American to hold both.Certificates.In the same year he wed his childhood sweetheart,Gertrude Elizabeth Nelson.They had two sons.

In July 1933,Chief Anderson and Dr.Albert Foresythe an Atlantic City surgeon and Tuskegee University graduate made aviation history when they became the first African-American to fly a plane across the United States from Atlantic City,New Jersey,to Los Angeles,California and back.Their two-seat Fairchild 24 which they called The Pride of Atlantic City,had no,parachutes,landing lights,radio,or "blind" flying instruments.The pilots used a road map for navigation.Charles and Dr.Albert were sponsored along the way.In 1935,they flew a "goodwill" flight to the Bahamas,Cuba,Jamaica,Haiti,and five other Caribbean countries in their plane named The Spirit of Booker T.Washington.

In 1940,Chief Anderson became the first flight instructor at Tuskegee University.Tusegee President Frederick Patterson persuaded Charles to start the Civillan Pilot Training Program,the first at a historically African American college.By the end of the year Charles had recruited four others pilots for the program,Charles Foxx,Milton P.Crenchaw,Forrest Shelton,and Richard Davis.

On April 19,1941,First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Tuskegee University.During her visit she asked Chief Anderson if African Americans could really navigate the skies.Charles invited her to fly with him.Mrs.Roosevelt agreed and was flown over Tuskegee.Airmen during World War II and Charles was put in charge of their training.Between 1940 & 1946,Charles and fellow instructors trained nearly 1,000 pilots,bombardies,navigators,and other flight personnel.

Charles continued to train civilian pilots After World War II and to promote aviation and aeronautical education among African Americans the next 50 years.A founding member of Negro Airmen International,for 22 years he trained 16-19 year old African American youth the NAI's Summer Flight Academy.By the time of his death,he had amassed over 52,000 flying hours.Charles died at his home in Tuskegee after a long battle with cancer.

"Chauncey Spencher" (1906-

Was an African American aviator born in Lynchburg,Virginia.His mama was the Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencher.Chauncey saw his first airplane in flight at the age of 11,but after finishing college,despite his family's fame and respect in the South,no one would give him flying lessons in Lynchburg.A family friend,Oscar De,Priest,the first African American Congressman since Reconstruction,suggested that he move to his home district Chicago to take flying lessons.In 1934,Chauncey joined with a group of African American aviators in organizing the National Airmen Association (NAA).Working as a kitchen helper in a Chicago restaurant he used most of his weekly wages for flying lessons.Later,he and a handful of companions bought an obsolete airplane and set out to repair it themselves.Two years later after that he and fellow NAAA member Dale Lawrence White flew Aa rented Lincoln-Paige biplane on a ten-city tour that started in Chicago and ended in Washington,DC.The notoriety of the Spencer-White flight in the African American press contributed to convincing Congress to include African Americans in the pre-World War  II Civilian Pilot Training Program.

"Marlon Dewitt Green" (June 6,1929-July 6,2009)

In 1963,Marlon born in Arkansas and a former U.S. Air Force pilot,broke the airline industry color barrier when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Continental Airlines had to comply with the State of Colorado's anti-discrimination laws-there being no conflict with any federal statute--and required that the company hire him He has been described as "the Jackie Robinson" of the airline.
Marlon was born in El Dorado (Union County) to McKinley Green who was a domestic worker,and Lucy Longmyre Green a homemaker.He had four siblings.Despite growing up economically disadvantaged,Marlon was an excellent student and graduated as the valedictorian of of Fairview Elementary.He attended Booker T.Washington High School in El Dorado through the eleventh grade and then converted to Catholicism and received a scholarship to Xavier Preparatory High School in New Orleans Louisiana,where he graduated as co-valedictorian in 1947.He briefly attended Epiphany Apostolic College in Newburgh,New York,with plans to become a priest.At the end of  1947,he was dismissed from that institution (allegedly for sexual activity,a charge he denied ) and joined the U.S. Air Force on February 5,1948,with hopes of becoming an aircraft mechanic.
After basic training at Lackland Airforce Base in Texas,Marlon was stationed in Hawaii on June 5,1948.After being assigned to an al African American unit whose main duty peforming menial work,Marlon exhibited a desire to fly planes.He was one of very flew African Americans accepted into basic pilot training school in San Antonio,Texas,in March 1950.(One of  of his classmates was Virgil "Gus" Grissom,who would became one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts.)
Marlon passed the course and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.Over the course of nine years in the U.S. Air Force,he flew a variety of multi-engine aircraft,including bombers,and mid-air refueling tankers,and amphibious rescue planes,and served at various air bases.
On December 29,1951,he married Eleanor Gallagher,a white instructor of physical education whom he had met in New Orleans.They had six children.They were divorced in 1970.Marlon later remarried three times,having another son with his second wife,Delores.
In June 1957,Continetal Airlines,based in Denver,Colorado invited him to take a flight test,unaware of his race because he had not included a photo of himself with his application.He passed,but five other ex-Air Force applicants,all of whom had far less experience than he had,were hired while Marlon was not.Believing himself  to be the victim of racial discrimination,he filed a complaint with Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission (CADC).The CADC agreed and ruled that Continental had to admit Marlon to a training class.The airlines refused and took the matter to the Denver District Court.
In 1959,Continental's lawyers argued that,as an interstate carrier,the airline was not subject to a state commission's ruling.On  June 11,the court returned the complaint to the commission for revision and set a court date.Subsequently the complaint was dismissed by the court on
June 26.At this point,Marlon hired a Denver lawyer who appealed the case to the Colorado Supreme Court in 1960;this court sent the case back to the Denver District Court.Marlon's lawyer then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and was granted a hearing.U.S.Attroney
General Robert Kennedy as well as other influential figures and organizations filed "friend of the court" briefs on Marlon's behalf.
In April 1963,the Supreme Court,under Chief Justice Earl Warren,ruled unanimously in Marlon's favor and ordered Contineental to admit him to a training course.After more than a year of working out contracts,terms Marlon started with Continental in January 1965.He flew for almost fourteen years,all of them for Continental,before retiring in 1978.As a result of his breaking the airline "color barrier," he opened the doors for hundreds of other minority pilots,and the Organization of Black Airline Pilots was formed as a result of his victory.
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organization of Black Airline Pilots in 2003 and was inducted into the Arkansas Avivation Historical Society Hall of Fame in 2005.Continental Airlines named a Boeing 737 the "Capt.Marlon Green" in his honor in 2010.
He was also included the permanent "Black Wings" exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
Marlon died in Denver.He donated his body to science.

"William Bethel Morgan" (June 6,1921-December 30,2006)

Was from Wyano, Pennsylvania  (Westmoreland County),a small coal mining

community.His daddy was William Bethel Morgan,Sr.,a coal miner,and his mama was Susie Harris Morgan a farmer.When he was just 8,in 1929,William's daddy died in Wyano coal mining accident.William and his mama move onto a farm in Yukon,Pennsylvania as the only African American family in town.
He worked the farm,attended Homestead High School,played football and the guitar.Yukon was where he spent most of his young adult life as a farmer.Traveling to his job as chipper in the Pittsburgh Steel Foundry.His mama wanted him to be a Raleigh salesman or a school teacher.William tried the Raleigh job,however door-to-door sales were too frustrating for him.In 1942 while William was working in a steel mill,he read an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazetter about Tuskegee University where young men African American men trained to be fighter pilots.
He volunteered for the services in 1943 and after a long battery of tests,managed to get "in-line as a pre-aviation cadet in 1944.He waited a year for a class to be formed.
His grades in high school were very good.Te tests were very hard.Only 35 out of 537 made it into flight training William was one of them.The service was actually the first experiences he got to be around other African Americans.William said the experiences was incredible.He would say,"I learned a about life after meeting the cream of  crop of  the African American race.I saw what we could make of ourselves."I saw what we could make out of ourselves."William began training in Mississippi earning his wings in PT-13s.He later learned compat techinques in AT-6 trainers and later moved to gunnery training of the Florida coast in AT-6s and the P-51s.William was was a  member of the last class to graduate from Tuskegee University on September 8,1945,and was one the last assigned as a replacement to the 33nd fighter group,the Red Tails;Class SE 45-F.He graduated as a Flighter Officer.He never got to see compat.The war was over before he could be assigned to his unit.After he left services he spent time in Atlanta & New York.William enrolled in dental school at the University of Pittsburgh,as one of  only 4 African American,earning his DDS degree in 1957.Soon after,Dr.Morgan purchased a dental practice from a white dentist in the Hill District of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.As william business grew,he opened a satelite office in Braddock,Pennsylvania.He practiced dentistry for a little over 10 years in the Pittsburgh area.Not like politics and the racial tension in the city in the late 60's,Dr.Morgan moved his family (Martha his wife,and two children Bill Jr & Susan)  to Wanamingo Minnesota,a Scandinavian community of 500 people.Around, 1980,after 12 years in successful practice,Dr.Morgan accepted a dental position at the Regional Treatment Center,in Fergus Falls,Minnesota.

"Mildred Carter"

Was Alabama's first African American female pilot.She earned her pilot's license on on February 1,1941.With 150 hours of  flight time logged,Mildred flew the skies in a two-plane formation with her husband Herbert Carter.In a campus publication,Mildred had been given the title of  "Miss Tuskegee Army Flying School"by her colleagues at Tuskegee Air Field.Known as the Tuskegee Airmen Organization's "First Family," the Carters were married for nearly 70 years.Mildred's days of flying included an in-flight rendezvous in which she and her husband met above a local lake to send "I love you"signals in the air.Mildred,a Benson,Alabama native,graduated with a business degree from Tuskegee Institute at 19 years old.She was denied entry into the Civilian Pilot Training Program the first time she was too young,but was granted entry the next year and became the first woman graduate.In the meantime,Mildred was also making history as the first civilian to be hired as a clerk at Tuskegee's Army Air Field.She was taught to fly by historymaker,Charles Alfred "Chief " Anderson,a man known as the Father of Black Aviation.Mildred dressed unlike traditional;while they wore skirts,Mildred also known as "Mike"by her husband,wore aviator attire,down to her boots.Women were not allowed to join combat during WW II it was her dream to have an aviation career.According to her son,Herbert Carter., Mildred's only regret was not being able to join the the Women's Air Force Service Pilots Organization (WASP),which was an all-white female service group during World War II.Mildred was rejected because she was African American.It wasn't until she was 70 that she finally received a letter inducting her in the program.When Herbert went to war, she saw a film at the theatre of the Tuskegee Airmen and right on the screen was her husband,one of the original 33,pilots tending to his aircraft.She cried.In September 2011,Mildred was honored at the Tuskegee Human & Multicultcultural Center with a ceremony & roses.Mildred had hoped to stick around for her husband's 94th birthday a few weeks later and was able to do so prior to her passing one month later.Ninety-five year old Herbert  died later last year.

"Frank Mann"{November 22,1908-November 30,1992}

His parents wanted him to be a become a schoolteacher,from

 

childhood,had had a natural ability to fix things.At age 11,he had his own mechanic shop.As a teenager,he worked alongside airplane mechanics,repairing engines.By the age of 20,he had designed and built several of his own Model-T cars.It was unheard of in the 1920s for An African American man to have anything to do with cars,trains,or airplanes.His life-long friend Howard Hughes was instrumental in opening doors for Frank's exceptional talents.Frank attended the University of Minnesota & UCLA where he earned a mechanical engineering degree.Wold War II equipment that revolutionized military weaponry would not exist if not for his involvement.Sadly,few Americans are aware of Frank.He was the first African American commercial pilot for American Airways.Frank was also a distinguished military officer.In 1935,following Italy's invasion of Ethiopia,Frank flew reconnaissance missions for the Ethiopian army.He served in the World War II Army Air Corps and was the primary civilian instructor of the famous Tuskegee airmen in 1941.Frank left there after a rift with the U.S.government,which didn't want the Squadron,an all African-American unit,flying the same high caliber of airplanes as their white counterparts. An angry Frank had refused to have his men fly old "World War I biplanes crates," because his airmen had proven themselves equals.They were being giving inferior equipment and materials,their squadron never lost a plane,bomber,or pilot,and they were nicknamed the "Red Tails." After the war,Frank was instrunmental in designing the first Buick LeSabre and the first communications satellite launched for commercial use.

"Hubert Fauntleroy Julian" (September 21,1897-February 19 1983)

Was a a Trinidad-born African American aviation pioneer.He was nicknamed "The Black

Eagle."He was born in Port of Spain,Trinidad,the son of a cocoa plantation manager.He migrated to Canada in 1914,where he claimed to have learned to pilot an aeroplane and served as Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Air Force.In 1921 he patterned the "Airplane Safety Appliance,"a combination parachute and propeller.Hubert emigrated from Montreal to Harlem in 1921.His first flight above Harlem occurred during the 1922 Universal Negro Improvement Association Convention,when he flew over the parade in a plane decorated in UNIA slogans.That flight led to his appointment as head of the organization's New Aeronautical Department.He made his first parachute jump on September 3,1922,at an airshow at Curtiss Field on Long Island headlined by African American pilot Bessie Coleman.Several more jumps followed in the next year,at Curtiss Field and at Hasbrough Heights,New Jersey.During one jump in New Jersey in June 1923,Julian played "I'm Running Wild on the saxophone.His most famous parachute jumps were into Harlem itself.On April 29,1923,Julian flew from an airfield in Hasbrough Heights to Harlem,circled City College,dropping two noise bombs to attract resident's attention.He then leaped from the plane,dressed in a bright red suit;the wind carried him away from his target,a vacant lot on 140th Street near Seventh Avenue,to the roof of a tenement at 301 West 140th Street.A large crowd followed him,and after a police officer charged him with disorderly conduct,they carried Julian to the UNIA'S Liberty Hall.Addressing the crowd, he spoke about aviation,promoted a parachute he had designed,and urged them to support A.I. an African American owned department store under threat threat from white competition.On November 5,1923,Julian again flew to Harlem planning to parachute into Saint Nicholas Park.On this occasion,wind carried him instead to the police station on West 123rd Street,as a huge crowd followed.After he became stuck between the station and the next building,two officers pulled him into the second floor.In 1924,Julian shifted his focus from parachuting to piloting aeroplanes and raised funds to buy a seaplane for a transatlantic flight from New York to Liberia.He named the plane Ethiopia I,decorated its tail with red,black and green colors of the UNIA.On July 4,1924,a crowd of thousands gathered on the banks of the Harlem River at 139th Street to see Julian depart.His take-take off was delayed for several hours when the owners of the plane appeared and declared he still owned them $1400.His supporters with the help of UNIA members,eventually collected the money from the crowd.Soon after he took off,one of the pontoons fell of the plane,and it crashed into flushing bay.Julian twice more attempted to raise money to buy planes for flights across the Atlantic.In 1926,he planned a flight to Liberia with backing from a West Indian subsidiary of Standard Oil,boxer Tiger Flowers,Elks Lodges,it never took place.In 1928,he sought funds for a plane to make a round trip flight to Paris.This flight had the backing of State Senator A.Spencer Feld,the response proved disappointing,and Spencer abandoned the effort after six months.Julian never succeeded in flying across the Atlantic,his efforts made him an international celebrity,and in 1931 Emperor Haile Sellassie invited him Ethiopia to take part in his coronation ceremonies.Julian impressed the Emperor with his skills as a parachutist,landing within a few feet of his throne during one ceremony,a feat that won him Ethiopia citizenship and a position in the nation's air force.Julian had less success as a pilot,crashing into the Emperors favorite plane,after which he quickly returned to Harlem.In 1931 he was the first flyer of African descent to fly coast to coast in the U.S. Julian was one of several aviators in the 1920s and 1930s who completed in outdoing each other and briefly holding records for longest non-stop flights.In 1931,for example,Julian held the non-stop non-refueling aviation endurance record with a flight of 84 hours and 33 minutes.He flew a number of flights in and between the Americas,Europe,and Africa,surviving several crashes.In between major flights,he toured with a small all-black flying circus which he headed,call The Five Blackbirds.During the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935,Julian flew to Ethiopia to aid in the defense of Selassie's government.He was put in command of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force,which at the time consisted of three planes.Upon his return to the U.S.,he was temporarily detained at Ellis Island,over the question of his nationality-British or Ethiopian.Later,after into a public first fist-fight with fellow African American aviator John C.Robinson,Julian was ordered to leave the country.After U.S. entered World War II,Julian volunteered to train for combat with the 99th Pursuit Squadron,the famous Tuskegee Airmen,he was remembered as a colorful character who wore a non-regulation Colonel's uniform,despite not holding that rank in the United States Army Air Forces,and was discharge before graduation.From the 1920s-the 1940s,Julian lived in Harlem and continued receiving press as a local celebrity.He volunteered to fight for Finland in the Finnish-Russian Winter War in 1939 and 1940.He arrived in Finland,ended up leaving Finland soon without participating in any military activities.Julian died in in the borough of the Bronx,New York City.He is buried at the Calverton National Cemetery in Suffolk County,New York.His passing went largely unnoticed.