Black wings:
Black pioneers of aviation
by Rita C- Bobowski
Smithsonian News Service
One pilot was called the “ Black
Swallow of D eath ’ *, earning IS
medals from the French government
for heroic service during the two
world wars. Another became a well-
known barnstormer and stunt pilot,
whose untimely death only served to
heighten her appeal. Tw o others
gained the nickname " T h e Flying
H obos" for the unorthodox
practice of pawning their clothes
and belongings to finance a
transcontinental flight.
L ittle known today, these were
the black men and women pioneers
of flight who overcame formidable
(Kids in the early part of this century
and went on to become outstanding
aviators and role models for
succeeding generations.
Theirs are stories of perseverance
and determination. They were born
out o f the historic flight o f the
Wright brothers on December 17,
1903, a flight that sparked a popular
enthusiasm for flying and things
flight-related. From flying togs to
furniture styles, from popular music
to
international
aviation
expositions, flying quickly captured
(he public’s imagination.
But in the Unites States, black
men and women found themselves
excluded from all aspects of Hight.
"There was a pervasive idea that
blacks simply lacked the aptitude to
f ly ," says D r. Von Hardesty,
associate curator of aeronautics at
the Smithsonian’s National Air and
Space Museum in Washington.
Hardesty and his colleague,
assistant curator Dominick Pisano,
are the organizers o f a new
exhibition, "B lack Wings: The
American Black in A v ia tio n " ,
chronicling the rise o f blacks in
aviation.
"Remember, this was the era of
Jim Crow laws, when segregation
was the order of the day,” Hardesty
says. " N o t only did blacks suffer
severe discrimination, they also, as a
whole, had limited resources, little
training and few heroes to pave the
way.”
But heroes were in the wings in
the form o f two dedicated and
strong-willed individuals who
refused to give up. Faced with racial
barriers in their own country,
Eugene Bullard and Bessie Coleman
traveled— Bullard before W orld
W ar I and Coleman in 1921 — to
France, where attitudes were more
lib eral, to receive their pilot
training.
Bullard, born in Georgia in 1894,
sailed to Europe as a stowaway. He
served briefly at the start of World
W ar I as an infantrym an with the
French Foreign Legion, where he
earned the ominous nickname,
"B lack Swallow of D eath ". A fter
recovering from serious wounds
received at Verdun, he transferred
to the Fench flying corp in 1917.
During his life tim e . Bullard was
awarded 15 medals from the French
government, including the Legion
of Honor.
His
contem porary,
Bessie
Coleman, broke into aviation in an
occupation that was as romantic as
it was perilous— stunt flying. Born
10 years before the Wright brothers*
first flight, Coleman worked from
the time she was a child— picking
cotton and taking in laundry in
Texas, working as a manicurist and
running a chili parlor in Chicago.
During World War I, she decided
to learn to fly , but was quickly
turned
down
for
training
everywhere
she
applied.
A
newspaper editor and publisher
encouraged Coleman to travel to
France, where she trained with some
of the best European flyers.
"Miss Coleman, who is having a
special Nieuport scout plan built for
her in France, said yesterday that
she intended to make flights in this
country as an inspiration for people
o f her race to take up a v ia tio n ,"
reported the October 17, 1921, issue
o f A real Age W eekly. Coleman
earned her p ilo t’ s license in 1922
and launched a career as a
barnstormer and stunt pilot.
T rag ically, when she was 33,
Coleman’s plane failed to pull out
o f a dive during an airshow
perform ance in F lo rid a. Both
Coleman and her co -p ilot were
killed
Inspired by Coleman. Bullard and
others like them, blacks began
to break into aviation. "M ost were
unable to buy a plane," Hardesty
explains, " o r even to rent one. In
fact, they were often refused
permission to purchase the gasoline
they needed. As a result, in the late
1920s, blacks began to group
together, pooling their resources."
All-black flying clubs would buy
their own planes, train their own
members and set up their own
operations. The clubs promoted air
shows and long-distance flights,
activities that helped increase
interest in and awareness o f
aviation.
One of the first black flying clubs
in the United States was the
Challenger Air Pilots’ Association
in Chicago. Barred from established
airports in Chicago, the club opened
its own airstrip in 1933 outside the
black township o f Robbins, I I I. ,
later moving its flight operations to
Harlem Airport in Oaklawn.
" T h e operator o f H arlem
A irp o rt, a white man named Fred
Schumacker, allowed the club
members to fly in and out o f his
place, a m ajor concession at the
tim e ," Hardesty says. In his
research for the exhibition and a
book to be published this month,
Hardesty found that segregation,
although
severe,
"w as
not
universal. At different times and in
d ifferen t ways, concerned whites
would step in and lend a helping
hand."
One Challenger Association
member, Cornelius R. C o ffe y ,
became one o f the first certified
black aircraft mechanics in the
country. Recognizing the need for
qualified engineers and mechanics.
he founded the C o ffe y School o f
Aeronautics in 1937 at Harlem
A irport with fellow aviator W illa
Brown. Coffey's school was one of
the first to o ffe r expert flight
instruction to blacks.
Los Angeles rivaled Chicago as a
hub o f black a v iatio n . In 1929, a
small group o f aviation enthusiasts
there banded together to form the
Bessie C olem an A ero C lu b . Tw o
years later, the club sponsored the
first all black air show in the
country, an event that attracted an
estimated 15,000 spectators.
Black aviation in Los Angeles
achieved its greatest fame in 1932
when the club sponsored the
transcontinental flight of James H.
Banning and Thomas C . A llen.
A llen, a 25-year-old pilot and
mechanic, learned of a $1,000 prize
offered to the first black to fly cross
country. His m ajor problem: no
p la n e . T h i r t y - t w o - y e a r - o l d
Banning, on the other hand, was a
skilled stunt pilot who owned a
four-year-old plane with a 14-year-
old engine that needed some work.
The formed a partnership. Never
mind that Banning had flow n his
"Alexander Eaglerock" a total of
10 minutes and A llen had never
been in the plane before—or at least
so the story goes.
Their history-making flight from
Los Angeles to New York took 21
days; 41 hours and 27 minutes were
actually spent in the air. With only
$100 in their pockets for expenses,
the team stopped in towns along the
way where they had relatives and
friends, tossing leaflets over towns
at one point and pawning a suit and
watch at another, all to raise funds
for fuel to reach the next city. They
quickly became known as the
"Flying Hobos.”
In contrast to these aerial
vagabonds, C. Alfred Anderson and
Dr. Albert E. Forsythe became the
first black aviators to complete a
round-trip transcontinental flight in
1933 in a systematic and well-
financed excursion.
1
▼ onviolence is the answer
to the crucial political and moral
questions o f our time; the need
fo r man to overcome oppression
and violence without resorting to
oDDression and violence.
M an must evolve fo r all human
conflict a method which rejects
revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation o f such a method
is love. ”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
In observation o f the devotion to peace
and special contributions to justice
made by Dr. King.
NORTHWEST NATURAL
the gas company
Jazz
Alive!
Saturday Nights 8:00 PM
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
(1875-1955)
Jazz Continuum
with Shaheed Haamid
following Jazz Alive! at 10:00 PM
KOAC
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550 AM > 91.5 FM
Oregon Public Broadcasting
One of the greatest women America haa produced, Mary
McLeod Bethune roee from a position as field hand picking cot
ton in South Carolina where she was born to one a t advisor,
confidante and friend of Pree. and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
She served as Roosevelt's director of the Negro Division of the
National Youth Administration and was a familiar sight at the
White House where she always pleaded for justice for Biecks.
Almost single handedly she built Bethune-Cookmen College in
Florida, en Institution whose graduates number in the thou
sands
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Page 8 Section III Portland Observer, February 23. 1983
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