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Willa Brown was the first African American woman to earn a pilot license (1938) and a commercial license (1939). Brown was also the first African American woman to become an officer in the Illinois Civil Air Patrol (CAP). While enrolled in a master's degree at program Northwestern University Brown joined the Challenger Air Pilots Association and learned to fly at Harlem Field, on the southwest side of Chicago. In 1935 she earned her Master Mechanic Certificate and began giving flight and ground school instruction at the field. One day in 1936, wearing her striking white jodhpurs, jacket and boots, she walked into the Chicago Defender newspaper office and made a professional pitch for publicity for an African-American air show to be held at Harlem Field. The advertising resulted in an attendance of between 200 and 300 people and showcased a number of talented black pilots in the Chicago area. Enoch Waters, the editor of the paper, covered the event himself and went up with Brown in a Piper Cub. Brown and her husband Cornelius Coffey organized CAP Squadron 613 in conjunction with his school, the Coffey School of Aeronautics, and she held the ranks of lieutenant and adjutant in the organization. She was the director of the Coffey School when it was selected by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as one of several black schools and colleges to offer the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP-a program that trained thousands of pilots throughout the U.S.). The success of the Coffey and other black aviation students led to the eventual admission of blacks into the Army Air Forces through the War Training Service Program (WTS) at these schools and provided a pool of instructors and trainees at Tuskegee Army Air Field.
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Copyright © 2000 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution(information compiled by D. Cochrane and P. Ramirez 12/15/99)
Willa Brown: An American Aviator
This is a great article Bev. I just saw an Off-Broadway play last weekend about the first Tuskegee Airmen (Black Angels Over Tuskegee) and they mentioned her name in the play.
ReplyDelete@Bronze Magazine CEO (Shawn) Thanks, I had heard of Bessie Coleman, I had never heard of her...! So I'm delighted to bring her history foward...!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about flying it's never in a plane without a hood...they flew in the open aire and loved it...Kudo's too those's who went before us took the risk and made things happen!
More is yet to come!