Aerobatic Pilot Bessie Coleman Earned License In 1921

The National Aviation Hall of Fame has a distinguished history of inducting a long list of aviation pioneers into its ranks... and this Saturday, the organization will honor a true trailblazer.

Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, TX in 1892... the tenth of 13 children. At the age of 29, she moved to France to learn to fly... as US schools at the time turned her away, because she was black.

Not only did she learn to fly a plane... but she learned to fly aerobatics, which was almost unheard of at the time. In 1921, she was awarded an international pilots license by the renowned Federation Aeronatique Internationale... becoming the first African American individual to earn such an honor. She was also the only woman in her class of 62 students.

After honing her aerobatic skills, she returned to the US in 1922, and started touring as "the world's greatest woman flyer." For the next four years, she performed all around the country -- insisting her audiences be desegregated -- and building up funds she hoped would one day allow her to open a flight school for black aviators.

Sadly, she would not live to see her dream become reality... as in April of 1926, she fell from the cockpit of a JN-4 "Jenny" biplane that her mechanic was test-flying, after the pilot lost control following a mechanical failure.

While she was lost that day, however... her spirit lived on. William J. Powell established the Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles, California in 1929... which later inspired flyers like the Five Blackbirds, the Flying Hobos... and the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

Coleman has received numerous accolades over the years... but on July 15 she will be formally recognized by the NAHF, along with fellow high-flying inductees David "Tex" Hill, the World War II flying ace; aviation advocate, pilot and Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson; and test pilot and X-15 astronaut Robert M. White.

FMI: www.bessiecoleman.com, www.nationalaviation.org