I want to take a few moments to highlight some incredible women and organizations in aviation.
First, a big shout-out to Sisters of the Skies, Inc. for a highly successful scholarship fundraising gala on Saturday, February 26 in Atlanta, GA. The guest speaker was someone near and dear to my heart, United Airlines Captain Theresa Claiborne. A few decades ago, Claiborne became the first Black woman Air Force pilot; her success opened the path for all who followed, including me.
Sisters of the Skies, Inc. is a great home for pilots who are ready to put in the hard work of becoming a professional aviator. That road takes more than money, it takes someone to guide you, and the Sisters of the Skies mentorship program does just that. Well done, SoS!
Next up is Women in Aviation International. WAI will hold its 33rd Conference March 17-19 in Nashville, TN. I am so pleased that WAI will posthumously induct CAPT Rosemary Mariner into the Pioneer Hall of Fame. Mariner, one of the first six women Naval Aviators, was a stalwart proponent of and dedicated mentor of women and Black naval officers. Pulitzer Prize winning author Beverly Weintraub records Mariner’s written words in Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators:
The reason why people choose to believe…myths of racism and sexism is because they fill a need for recognition without having to earn it.
These words, from a National War College paper, illustrate Mariner’s character and leadership.
Another leader of character, General Jacqueline Van Ovost, will be a keynote speaker during WAI’s conference. In my military career, I have never flown with a more professional pilot or worked with a better leader than Van Ovost. As the USTRANSCOM Commander, she is at the helm of US military movements—all services, everywhere.
On March 25, I am pleased to be speaking at the International Women’s Air and Space Museum in Cleveland, OH. During IWASM’s “Dinner with a Slice of History” program, I will talk about some of the challenges associated with researching pioneering Black women aviators.
I hope you find time to participate in or support a Women’s History Month program. Let’s embrace the resilience of the women whose shoulders we stand upon, and create more diversity in future generations of aviators!
More 2022 Events of Interest
March 8 – International Women’s Day
March 24 & 26 – ECCTAI Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day Events (Virtual)
Today marks the 115th anniversary of Charles Alfred “Chief” Anderson’s birth, the chief pilot at Moton Field during the Tuskegee Experience. I am using this occasion to pay tribute to another Charles, one the world recently lost: Brigadier General Charles E. McGee, US Air Force, Retired.
I do not remember when I first met General McGee, but he was a retired colonel at the time. It was probably at a Tuskegee Airmen convention during the 1990s or the early 2000s. Once I moved back to the DC area in 2013, I had occasion to see and speak with him more frequently.
On one of those occasions, I took my young niece with me to his book signing at the Udvar-Hazy Space Center in Chantilly, VA. I already had a copy of his memoir, but wanted my niece to meet this incredible man whom I admired.
In a recent conversation with McGee’s youngest daughter, we remarked how amazing it is that her father, despite having endured tremendous hardships and the oppression of being Black during pre-Civil Rights-era America, was so patient and optimistic. My own father, a Korean Conflict veteran, displays a similar disposition. I don’t understand it, because it angers me to think about the injustices they both suffered. Both men moved on to successful careers.
I research and write about pioneering aviators. I have never met anyone who articulated the history of the Tuskegee Airmen in the way that McGee did. Elegant and concise, he explained the five phases of what would later be known as the Tuskegee Experience, 1941-1949. In a quiet, but firmly resolute voice, he began with the 1925 Army War College study that chiseled the impression of Black people as inferior beings into the minds of Army (who later became Air Force) leaders. Repercussions of that scientifically refuted study reverberate even today.
McGee’s mission of educating the masses, and in particular, young people about the history of the Airmen never waned. He made himself available, time and again for presentations, seminars, school visits, and interviews. If he tired of telling the Airmen’s history, I never saw it.
Most Americans may remember the recognition he was given during the February 4, 2020 State-of-the-Union address. Earlier in the day, at a private White House ceremony, then Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David L. Goldfein, gave McGee the one-star rank that was pinned on McGee’s epaulets. Each star had been worn by Goldfein. The transfer of personally-worn rank is a long-standing military tradition, a gesture personifying Godfein’s immense respect for McGee.
Whether it was receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush, or meeting President and Mrs. Obama, McGee brought an air of class and distinction to every room that he entered.
Enjoying more accolades, like tossing the coin at Super Bowl LIV, flying on his 100th and 101st birthdays, sky-diving, flying a B-25 and a variety of other aircraft well into his golden years, General McGee lived life to the fullest. His eyes lit up when he talked about flying, but family was always his first love.
His faith and love of country guided him, and he found hope in younger generations. Always generous with his time, McGee enjoyed sharing episodes and pearls of wisdom from his historic life.
It’s hard to lose such a great man, a fatherly figure, full of grace and kindness. Sometimes, I hold onto the false hope that men like McGee will live forever. I guess, as long as we remember him and speak about him, maybe he does.
Happy Final Landing, Brigadier General Charles E. McGee.
No study of pioneering American aviators is complete without the story of Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman. Her flying career spanned six short years, but her legacy is evergreen.
Born in Atlanta, Texas to Susan and George Coleman, Coleman’s family moved to Waxahachie, south of Dallas when she was small. Eventually, the family grew to thirteen children. She was an avid reader, taking advantage of the traveling wagon library, thanks to her mother’s penny-pinching. Religion was important and Coleman was baptized at twelve years old. Education, also highly valued, was not always affordable. She was good at math and ensured her farming family was not short-changed at the market.
Enticed by low-flying aircraft, she inquired where she could learn to fly. However, limited financial resources and prejudicial southern mores blocked her access to flight instruction. Concluding that farming was not a desirable future for her, Coleman hoped moving to Chicago would bring her closer to punching holes in the sky. At 23, she became part of the Great Migration of Black families out of the Deep South.
After completing a manicuring course, Coleman worked in the heart of Bronzeville, at the White Sox Barber Shop, owned by team trainer William Buckner. When her brother John returned from World War I army service in France, he visited his sister at the shop and trounced upon her flying aspirations. Determined to prove her big brother wrong, Coleman sought advice from customer Robert Abbott, Chicago Defender founder and editor. Abbott, who reportedly started the Defender with only twenty-five cents, advised her to learn to fly in France, where Black people were treated better.
Coleman began developing a three-part plan: learn to fly; raise money and widespread racial interest in aviation through exhibition flights; and start a flying school for members of her race, so they would not have to travel to France to learn how to fly. She executed the plan, earning her wings at l’Ecole D’Aviation des Freres Caudron at Le Crotoy, France, near Rue. Coleman’s European flying was front-page news in the July 4, 1922 issue of the Washington Post. Coleman made her U.S. flying debut at Curtiss Field in Garden City, Long Island during Labor Day weekend, September 1922. She next flew at Checkerboard Field in Chicago, and many other exhibitions across the country over the next four years.
Coleman’s final flight was on April 30, 1926 from Paxon Field in Jacksonville, FL. Her mechanic-pilot lost control of the plane while she scouted potential parachute landing sites from the back seat. Coleman fell out of the plane, to a violent death, while William Wills tried to regain control. He died in a post-crash fire after a careless cigarette was tossed onto the wreckage.
On June 15, 1921, Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman became the first American woman—of any race—to earn an international flying license in France, issued by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). Coleman was also the first licensed Black woman pilot. Other American women were licensed in the U.S by the Aero Club of America, through an agreement with the FAI.
Coleman’s aviation epherma is archived at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, and she is enshrined in the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame (1995) and the National Aviation Hall of Fame (2006).
Jeff Bezos picked a great day to launch and recover Blue Origin. Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the first lunar landing, that occurred during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.
Six decades after being assessed for astronaut training, Wally Funk finally rode into space. As many have observed, Funk became the eldest astronaut, while fellow space traveler Oliver Daemen became the youngest.
Jeff Bezos made the opportunity of a lifetime possible for both the spunky octogenarian and the teenager.
In 1960, Funk and other accomplished women aviators, were selected to undergo extensive testing and evaluation at the Lovelace Clinic in New Mexico. Complaints about sexism in the astronaut selection process sparked the privately funded program, designed to see if women had the “Right Stuff” for space. By 1961, thirteen women met or exceeded the qualification standards, but no one in the group was selected to become an astronaut.
Sixty years is a long time to wait, but an optimistic Funk said that she always knew she would make it to space.
Brava.
To learn more about these pioneering women aviators, please read the Smithsonian Institution’s 2019 tribute to Jerri Cobb, visit the IWASM site, or read Sarah Byrn Rickman’s posts about Wally Funk.
Bessie Coleman earned her pilot’s license in France on June 15, 1921
A replicate image of Bessie Coleman’s 1921 FAI license earned in France, displayed as a backdrop at the DuSable Museum Plaza, 6/15/21 (displayed courtesy of the DuSable Museum of African American History)
On June 15, 2021, Aerostar Avion Institute in Chicago, IL hosted an event to honor the centennial of Coleman’s licensing. I had to go. You see, as Aerostar President/CEO Tammera Holmes said, the record needs to be set straight: Bessie Coleman earned her license three years before Amelia Earhart. Yet, Earhart’s name is remembered, while schoolchildren around the world remain unaware of America’s first licensed Black woman pilot.
Truthfully, those like me, who stand on Bessie’s shoulders, along with educators, historians, and anyone connected with the aviation community, need to talk, write, and produce more about Coleman’s accomplishments.
After landing at Midway Airport on Tuesday, I visited Lincoln Cemetery, where Coleman was laid to rest in 1926. On Saturday, June 12th, the Chicago Dodo Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. held an event honoring Coleman and two other pioneering Black women aviators, at Bult Airport, about one hour south of Chicago. The program included plans for the annual wreath drop, delivered from a general aviation aircraft while flying over Ms. Coleman’s grave.
The DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
I drove northeast, toward Lake Michigan, to the oldest Black history museum in the nation, the DuSable Museum of African American History. The Tuesday evening event was held at the Museum’s Roundtable Plaza. It was an outdoor community festival/celebration. A brightly-painted gallery surrounded the Plaza, while roughly 120 children and adults filled the event space.
DuSable Museum President/CEO, Perri Irmer, described the beautiful perimeter of the plaza, explaining that the Museum gathered boarded-up storefronts from around the city. These boards had been beautified by community artists during the 2020 summer protests, in the wake of George Floyd’s Memorial Day murder.
Storefront art displayed at the DuSable Museum Plaza, 6/15/21 (photo taken with the permission of the DuSable Museum of African American History)
Chicago’s weather was mild on Tuesday evening: clear skies, temperature in the mid-seventies, and topped off with a cool breeze—great flying weather. When I arrived, I felt the energy of an upscale block party: music blasting, food trucks, swag bags for students, computerized flight simulator stations for young aviation enthusiasts, and plenty of adults socializing, with some seated at the small round tables near the platform
Chicago’s Air Force Academy High School’s Junior ROTC Color Guard had formed up beside the elevated stage. The DJ was pumped out tunes for a few dancers.
Chicago’s Air Force Academy High School Junior ROTC Color Guard, 6/15/2021 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)Dr CPT Yashika Tippett-Eggleston, Principal of Chicago’s Air Force Academy High School, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
Two commercial airline pilots attended in uniform, one with her newly-released novel about Bessie Coleman. Carole Hopson released A Pair of Wings: A Novel Inspired by Pioneer Aviatrix Bessie Coleman on June 15, 2021.
Carole Hopson, commercial airline pilot and author of A Pair of Wings, prepares to deliver her remarks at the Bessie Coleman Centennial celebration, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
“We are Bessie Coleman,” pilot/author Hopson proclaimed; she shares one of Bessie’s goals: training more Black pilots. Specifically, Hopson plans to fund 100 Black women through flight school by 2035, and she is devoting one-fifth of her book sales toward that goal.
Of the 100,000 pilots in commercial aviation, Hopson said, “seven percent are women; and of that number, approximately three percent are African American…Less than one hundred fly for a major airline…I don’t like being alone, and I want to change it—the same way that Bessie changed it 100 years ago.”
Hopson was also inspired along her flight journey by a quote that she shared from Persian philosopher/poet Rumi: “You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings…You have wings; learn to use them, and to fly.”
Speaking about her twelve and one-half years spent researching the novel, Hopson said, “I stand on the shoulders of Bessie Coleman.” The author immersed herself as best she could into Bessie’s world, stepping into Bessie’s shoes, and walking the paths she walked. Hopson said she felt Bessie’s spirit at the event.
Tammera Holmes presented Hopson with an Aerostar Avion award for inspiring the next generation of aviation youth.
Aerostar Avion President/CEO Tammera Holmes shares a laugh with Chicago’s French Consul General, Guillaume La Croix before the Bessie Coleman Centennial program, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
M. Guillaume Lacroix is Chicago’s Consul General of France. Before the program, M. Lacroix told me that Josephine Baker is very well known in France, not only as an artist, but as a member of the French Underground during World War II. Bessie Coleman, by contrast is not well known in either country.
During his formal remarks, Lacroix said of Coleman: “She came to France to get the license, but no one is proud that she had to cross the ocean to get it.”
M. Guillaume Lacroix, France’s Consul General at Chicago, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
“She’s part of our history,” he continued, “but unfortunately is not very well known in France. But we would like to work with you to make sure that the young kids at school, boys and girls…learn about her story and how she changed the world.”
“She’s part of our history,” he continued, “but unfortunately is not very well known in France. But we would like to work with you to make sure that the young kids at school, boys and girls…learn about her story and how she changed the world.”
Chicago’s Consul General of France, M. Guillaume Lacroix delivers remarks at the Bessie Coleman centennial celebration, as event organizer Tammera Holmes appreciates his words, 6/15/21 (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
M. Lacroix also expressed thanks to the Black soldiers from the U.S. who liberated France during World War II, and the Black men from the U.S. who fought for France in the trenches during World War I.
The Consul General concluded his remarks by saying that, although he is not a pilot, he is a dad, and if his daughter decided one day to become a pilot, because she was inspired by Bessie Coleman, that would make him very proud.
A Coleman relative displays Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proclamation honoring his great-great aunt, Bessie Coleman (MonicaSmithWrites.com)
I am grateful to the families of Bessie Coleman and Robert Sengstacke Abbot, Tammera Holmes, Aerostar Avion Institute, the DuSable Museum of African American History, United Airlines, the French Consulate at Chicago, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Carole Hopson, and many others who made possible the centennial celebration of Bessie Coleman’s June 15, 1921 licensing.
For more information, please visit the following:
Aero-Club de France
Musee de l’Air et de l’Espace
SI-NMAAHC
SI-NASM centennial tribute to Bessie Coleman, authored by General Aviation Curator Dorothy Cochrane
United Airlines
Chicago Department of Aviation
Chicago area teachers enjoy the Bessie Coleman celebration, June 15, 2021
Spectators enjoy celebrating “Brave Bessie’s” legacy, June 15, 2021.
Carole Hopson, commercial airline pilot and author of A Pair of Wings, June 15, 2021
KINGSVILLE, Texas (July 17, 2020) LTJG. Madeline G. Swegle, the U.S. Navy’s first Black female tactical jet aviator, stands in front of a T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft on the Training Air Wing 2 flight line at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, July 17, 2020. Swegle completed her final training flight with the “Redhawks” of Training Squadron 21 and was soft winged July 7. Her official winging ceremony is scheduled July 31 after which she will continue to graduate training at her fleet replacement squadron. TW-2 is one of five air wings under the Chief of Naval Air Training and conducts intermediate and advanced jet training for the Navy, Marine Corps, and international military partners. (U.S. Navy photo by LT Michelle Tucker).
In mid-July, a friend sent me a news link to an article about the impending July 31st winging of the Navy’s first Black woman tactical fighter pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade Madeline Swegle. I was thrilled. I still am.
I also mused about the 40 years that had passed by since Brenda Robinson had become the Navy’s first Black woman pilot. But the military has always been slow to accept women—and Black aviators. Take a look at the gender-racial wing span for each service.
Six women were accepted into the first “class” of Naval Aviators. Barbara Rainey was winged first, on Feb 22, 1974. Six years later, the Navy had its first Black woman aviator: Robinson.
The Army’s first woman pilot, Sally Murphy, earned her wings on June 4, 1974. Five years later, Marcella (Hayes) Ng became the Army’s first Black woman aviator.
Ten women earned Air Force wings on Sept 2, 1977. Theresa Claiborne pinned on her silver wings five years later, paving the way for more Black women to fly Air Force aircraft.
Janna Lambine became the Coast Guard’s first woman pilot in 1977. Several decades passed before Jeanine McIntosh-Menze earned her wings in 2005 as the service’s first Black woman pilot.
Not surprisingly, the Marine Corps was the last to wing—not to be confused with accept—a women pilot. In April 1995, Sarah Deal broke longstanding tradition when she was winged the Corps’ first woman aviator. Six years later, Vernice Armour broke racial and sexual orientation barriers when she earned her wings in 2001.
To sum up the numbers, it took the services 21 years (1974-1995) to wing their first women pilots, while it took a collective 31 years (1974-2005) to wing the first Black women pilots. Note that the Women Airforce Service Pilots were the first women to fly military aircraft, though the WASP were not considered members of the military.
Looking at the numbers by service branch, the span from the first woman combat pilot to the first Black woman combat pilot for the Air Force was five years (Jeannie Leavitt to Shawna Kimbrell), six years for the Marine Corps (Deal to Armour), and a whopping 26 years for the Navy (Kara Hultgreen to Swegle), 110 years from the start of Naval aviation.
Readers with pioneering women aviator data may snail mail me at POB 162, Riverdale, MD 20738.
Many youngsters in Tuskegee took their first flight with Chief Anderson; where you one of those lucky kids? Or perhaps you were an ROTC cadet who flew with Chief. Either way, let me know because I would like to interview you. Go get your logbook, diary, photos, or whatever jogs your memory, click on the photo, then post a comment below. Many thanks in advance.
Less than 24 hours after Justice Ginsburg passed away, journalists and politicians tossed about names on the evening news. Few refrained from discussing her possible replacement until she was laid to rest. She died on Friday; could they not celebrate her legacy and mourn her over the weekend, then talk about a successor on Monday?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg will remain one of my she-ros for many reasons, not the least of which is her 1996 majority opinion that opened the Virginia Military Institute to women. She wrote, “Neither the goal of producing citizen soldiers nor VMI’s implementing methodology is inherently unsuitable to women.”[1]
I remember vividly the ire a fellow military pilot voiced in my presence, upset that his alma mater (VMI) would no longer be all-male. At the same time, I wondered why my tax dollars should go to any institution of higher education that discriminates on the basis of gender.
Tradition.
Well, tradition kept racism, sexism, and a whole bunch of other ills alive. Ginsburg battled all of the “isms” fervently. And while some unenlightened and unwoke people may feel otherwise, I know that the world is a better place because of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
