1942 First African-American woman to hold a commercial pilot license

In 1933 Waterford Bragg enrolled at Curtiss Wright Aeronautical University, a segregated black aviation school; she was the only woman in a class with 24 black men. In 1934 she provided $600 of her own money to buy the school's first airplane, and helped in building the school's own airfield in Robbins, Illinois. In the summer she learned flying and obtained her private pilot's license. In 1943 she applied to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. When she went in for an interview, Ethel Sheehy, assistant to the head of WASP, denied her an interview because she was black. A few weeks later, she received a rejection letter from Jacqueline Cochran, head of WASP, for the same reason. Her application to the military nurse corps was rejected, also on racial grounds. She then enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Despite completing her coursework, examination, and flight test,[13] she was denied a pilot's license in Alabama, for being a "colored girl", but managed to receive a license at Pal-Waukee Field, Illinois.

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Category:
Aviation

Completion Status:
yes

Patent Number:
N/A

Co-Inventor:
None