An Extraordinary Aviatrix
Willa B. Brown
A remarkable individual, Willa B. Brown became the first African-American woman to earn a pilot’s license in the United States. Although, she didn’t stop there! Brown also became the first woman to have both a U.S. pilot’s license and an aircraft mechanic’s license. She also was the co-founder of the first black-owned and operated private flight training academy in the United States. Adding more “firsts” to her name, Brown was the first African-American officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and the first African-American woman to run for Congress. A woman who knew no limits, she was determined to rise!
Willa Beatrice Brown was born on January 22, 1906 in Glasgow, Kentucky, to Reverend Eric B. Brown and Hallie Mae Carpenter Brown. When Brown was six years old, her family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and then to Terre Haute. This is where Willa Brown received most of her education and in 1923, she graduated from Wiley High School.
In 1927, Brown graduated from Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University) with a Bachelor’s degree in Business. Immediately after, she found employment as a teacher in Gary, Indiana. She also met and had a short-lived marriage to her first husband, Wilbur Hardaway. In 1932, she moved to Chicago, IL, and found employment with the school system.
While working in Chicago, Brown decided to learn how to fly! She began her flight training in 1934 on the south side of Chi-Town at Harlem Field under the direction of several instructors such as Horace Clayton, John Robinson and Cornelius Coffey. Brown also began studies at the Curtiss Wright Aeronautical University and in 1935, she earned a Masters Mechanic Certificate.
Lt. Willa B. Brown
Coffey School Of Aeronautics
A few years later, Brown married her former flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey. Together, they co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics. This school was the first black-owned and operated flight training academy in the United States! And in 1939, their school was awarded a federal contract to train Americans to fly if there were ever a national emergency. In that same year, Brown became a co-founder of the National Airmen’s Association of America (NAAA). Between then and 1940, Brown had also joined the Challenger Air Pilot’s Association, the Chicago Girls Flight Club, purchased her own airplane, and received her Civil Aeronautics Administration ground school instructor’s rating. During the early 1940s, Brown also taught aviation mechanics for the Chicago board of Education.
Challengers Air Pilots Association
Another distinction Brown achieved was becoming the first African-American officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in 1941. She was commissioned as a Lieutenant and also named the Federal Coordinator of the CAP Chicago unit. In 1955, she married her third husband, the Reverend J.H. Chappell.
As extraordinaire as Willa Brown was, she also became the first African American woman to run for Congress as a Republican in 1946. Unfortunately, she did lose but still remained very politically active. She supported various racial and gender causes to include the integration of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Her extraordinary contributions to aviation and politics led her to be appointed to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Women’s Advisory Board. Sadly, On July 18, 1992, Willa B. Brown-Chappell died of a stroke.
Will B. Brown exemplified excellence in all that she did! She was determined, compassionate, and strong willed! She was beyond a rising aviatrix, as she was an aviatrix who rose to every occasion! So, for those rising today, remember our successor Willa, and No Matter What… Continue to Rise!
Reference
Brown, Willa Beatrice 1906–1992 . (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/brown-willa-beatrice-1906-1992
Davis, E. (2012, July 25) Willa B. Brown (1906-1992). Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/brown-willa-b-1906-1992/
Willa Brown. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2020 from http://pioneersofflight.si.edu/content/willa-brown-0
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