Willa Brown Chapell Taught The Tuskegee Airmen How To Fly

     Aviator, politician, educator and activist, Willa Brown gleaned strength and inspiration from the life work of Bessie Coleman.
     She was instrumental in establishing the Coffey School of Aeronautics and in doing so, fulfilled Bessie's long standing dream of an all black flying school.
     With a master's degree from Northwestern University and a Master Mechanic's Certificate, Willa became the first Black American woman to earn a commercial pilot's license in the U.S. She was also the first Black American to achieve an officer's rank in the Civil Air Patrol and lead the fight to integrate African Americans into the U.S. Army Corp.

source: http://www.blackintime.info/black-birthday-monthly.html 

      Although Bessie Coleman was [...had] to obtain her pilot’s license [...outside] the United States during the 1920s because she was a black woman, Willa Brown was able to achieve that goal by 1938. 

Brown was born in Kentucky and graduated from high school in Terra Haute, Indiana. She attended Indiana State Teachers College and worked as a teacher before taking a job as a social worker in Chicago. It was there that she decided she wanted to learn to fly. The same year she earned her pilot’s license, she earned an MBA from Northwestern University.
     Her aviation and business skills were put to good use as a tireless promoter of the aviation industry and as a successful administrator of aeronautical training programs. One day in 1936, she walked into the Chicago Defender newspaper office wearing white jodhpurs, jacket, and boots to drum up publicity for an African American air show to be held at Harlem Field. She co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics with her then-husband Cornelius Coffey. The Coffey School was the first black-owned and operated private flight academy in the United States. In 1939, the school received a government contract to begin training pilots for the Civilian Pilot Training Program.
     By 1941, Brown had trained hundreds of men and women. Many of her male students went on to become part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Brown also became the first black officer (male or female) in the Civil Air Patrol in 1941. Earning her mechanic’s license in 1943, she became the first woman to hold both a mechanic’s license and a commercial pilot license. She actively lobbied for the integration of the U.S. military and ran (unsuccessfully) for Congress in 1946, the first black woman to do so.

Source: http://www.therefresh.co/2018/03/15/bessie-willa-and-janet-unsung-heroines-in-aviation-history/ 

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