The other day while browsing through African American Aviation History websites and blogs, I came across a name that I had heard many a times, but never got an opportunity (or simply being lazy maybe) to learn more about. So, I decided to spend some time, and read more about Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman (Jan 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926).

Bessie Coleman happens to be the first African American (Black) Woman pilot in the history of General Aviation. She also happens to be the first American (not the first African American, or Black female, but The First American of any race or gender) to hold an international pilot’s license. Now, who would have guessed that! Not me.

Early Life

Popularly known as “Queen Bess”, she was born in Atlanta, Texas and was the tenth of thirteen children to sharecropper parents, George and Susan Coleman.

Queen Bess began school at the age of six, used to walk 4 miles a day to an all-black, one-room school. Despite sometimes lacking even basic educational amenities, Bessie was an excellent student, especially at mathematics.

In 1901, Bessie Coleman’s life took a dramatic turn: George Coleman left his family. He had become tired with the racial discrimination that existed in Texas. He returned to Oklahoma (Indian Territory as it was then called), to find better opportunities.

When she turned eighteen, Bessie Coleman took all of her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She just finished one term and ran out of money and was forced to return home.

Career Moves

Manicurist job in Chicago

In 1915, at twenty-three, Bessie Coleman relocated to Chicago, Illinois, with her brothers, and worked at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist. This is where she started hearing the tales of pilots or aviators from who were returning home from World War I. They told her stories about flying in the war, and Bessie Coleman started to fantasize about being an aviator herself. At the barbershop, Bessie Coleman met many influential Black men, like Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, a real estate promoter. Bessie Coleman managed to receive financial backing from Binga and the Defender, which capitalized on her flamboyant personality and her beauty to promote the newspaper, and of course to promote her cause. She could not gain admission to American flight training schools because she was Black and a Woman. Even other Black U.S. aviators would not train her. Robert Abbott encouraged her to go study abroad, to France. French women were already flying at this time in history.

Flight Training in France

Bessie Coleman learned French language at the Berlitz school in Chicago, and then sailed to Paris on November 20, 1920. She learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane, and on June 15, 1921 Coleman became not only the first African American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, but also the first African-American woman in the world to earn an aviation pilot’s license and the First American to earn an international pilot’s license. Determined to polish her skills, she spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris, and in September sailed back home for New York.

Airshow Performances

Bessie Coleman soon realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator—she would need to become a “barnstormer” stunt flier, and perform for paying audiences. But to succeed in this highly competitive arena, she would need advanced lessons and build a reputation. Returning to Chicago, she could not find anyone willing to teach her, so in February 1922, she sailed back for Europe again. This time she spent the next two months in France completing an advanced course in aviation, then left for the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker, one of the world’s most distinguished aircraft designers. She also traveled to Germany, where she visited the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company’s chief pilots. She returned to the United States with the confidence and enthusiasm she needed to launch her career in exhibition airshow flying.

In September 1921, she became a media sensation when she returned to the United States. “Queen Bess,” as she was known, primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes and other army surplus aircraft left over from the war. In Los Angeles, California, she broke a leg and three ribs when her plane crashed on February 22, 1922. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th American Expeditionary Force of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Bessie Coleman as “the world’s greatest woman flyer” and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots. Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers—including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now Chicago Midway Airport).

Fatal Plane Crash

On April 30, 1926, Bessie Coleman, at thirty-four, was in Jacksonville, Florida. She had recently purchased a plane in Dallas, Texas and had it flown to Jacksonville in preparation for an airshow. Her mechanic and publicity agent, William Wills, was flying the plane with her in the co-pilot seat. About ten minutes into the flight, the plane did not pull out of a planned nosedive; instead it accelerated into a tailspin. Coleman was thrown from the plane at 500 feet and died instantly when she hit the ground (she was not wearing her seatbelt). William Wills was unable to gain control of the plane and it plummeted to the ground. Wills died upon impact and the plane burst into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had slid into the gearbox and jammed it, causing the plane to spin out of control.

Legacy and honors

Her funeral in Jacksonville, Florida on May 2, 1926 was attended by 5,000 mourners. Many of them, including Ida B. Wells, were prominent members of Black society. Three days later, her remains arrived in Orlando, Florida, where thousands more attended a funeral at the city’s Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Her last journey on May 5 was to Chicago’s Pilgrim Baptist Church. An estimated 10,000 people filed past the coffin all night and all day. After funeral services, she was buried in the Lincoln Cemetery.

Over the years, recognition of Bessie Coleman’s accomplishments has grown. Her impact on aviation history, and particularly African Americans in aviation, quickly became apparent following her death. In 1927, Bessie Coleman Aero Clubs sprang up throughout the country. On Labor Day, 1931, these clubs sponsored the first all-African American Air Show, which attracted approximately 15,000 spectators. That same year, a group of African American pilots established an annual flyover of Bessie Coleman’s grave in Lincoln Cemetery in Chicago.

In 1989, First Flight Society inducted Bessie Coleman into their shrine that honors those individuals and groups that have achieved significant “firsts” in aviation’s development.

A second-floor conference room at the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC, is named after her. In 1990, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley renamed Old Mannheim Road at O’Hare International Airport “Bessie Coleman Drive.” In 1992, he proclaimed May 2 as “Bessie Coleman Day in Chicago.”

Mae Jemison, physician and former NASA astronaut, wrote in the book, Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator (1993): “I point to Bessie Coleman and say without hesitation that here is a woman, a being, who exemplifies and serves as a model to all humanity: the very definition of strength, dignity, courage, integrity, and beauty. It looks like a good day for flying.”

In 1995, she was honored with her image on a U.S. postage stamp, and was inducted into the Women in Aviation Hall of Fame.

In November 2000, Coleman was inducted in The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.

She is the subject of Barnstormer, a musical that debuted 20 October 2008 at the National Alliance for Musical Theater Festival in New York; the book and lyrics are by Cheryl Davis and the music is by Douglas Cohen.

In 2004, a small park in the Southside Chicago Hyde Park neighborhood was named “Bessie Coleman Park.”

Additionally, the Bessie Coleman park council was formed in 2005 as one of many responses to a serious increase in crime, shootings, and disorderly loitering in and near the park, at 54th and Drexel.

Notes
^ “Some Notable Women In Aviation History”. Women in Aviation International. http://www.wai. org/resources/ history.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
^ a b “Pioneer Hall of Fame”. Women in Aviation International. http://www.wai. org/resources/ pioneers. cfm#1995. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
^ “Texas Roots”. BessieColeman. com. Atlanta Historical Museum. 2008. http://www.bessieco leman.com/ Other%20Pages/ texas.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
^ a b c d e f Rich, Doris (1993). Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 37, 47, 57, 109-111, 145. ISBN 1560982659.
^ Powell, William J. (1934). Black Wings. Los Angeles: Ivan Deach, Jr.. OCLC 3261929.
^ Broadnax, Samuel L. (2007). Blue Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 17. ISBN 0275991954.
^ “First Flight Shrine: Bessie Coleman”. First Flight Society. 2009. http://www.firstfli ght.org/shrine/ bessie_colman. cfm. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
^ Texas Aviation Hall of Fame (14 July 2000). The Selection of Bessie Coleman for induction to the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. Press release. http://www.bessieco leman.com/ Other%20Pages/ release_1. html. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
^ Adam Hetrick (17 July 2008). “New Music: NAMT Announces Selections for 2008 Festival of New Musicals”. Playbill. http://www.playbill .com/news/ article/119576. html. Retrieved on 22 January 2008.
^ “Bessie Coleman Park and Council”. Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. 24 March 2007. http://www.hydepark .org/parks/ BessieColemanPar k.htm. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.

However, such a global optimization requires not only the ability to perform analysis of larger system of system impacts, but also the ability to consider new value propositions that involve different infrastructures and business models that those which are currently the norm of the present aviation industry. While many obstacles exist, including technology, regulations, and perception; the Aviation 3.0 has the potential to mirror other on-demand market revolutions that have taken place over the past half century.

Highly successful innovators like Henry Ford and even Wright brothers believed that aviation would one day be capable of reaching an everyday impact in our daily lives. Yet after many years of rather empty promises, ranging from road-able aircraft to a a helicopter in every garage, the aviation community remains transfixed in a highly centralized world of very expensive, and not cost efficient aircraft.

Pessimists of the personal aircraft vision say that the aviation market evolution has brought us to the logical solution. Optimists of the vision respond that government regulations and the conservatism of the aerospace community have inhibited the industry. Both are correct, and as is typically the case, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. However, with a long-term viewpoint of demand and utility, it seems inevitable that in the very near future small aircraft will have a far more significant daily impact in many of our daily activities.

Sport pilot regulations, training and certification of the pilots, and the sport aircraft are a result of such an initiative from the government and the industry. If you desire to experience the spirit of what I am trying to express here in this article, find some time during your busy lives, visit your local GA airport, and ask someone in one of those FBOs to arrange for a demo flight for you in one of their Sport Aircraft. And then come back here and give this article and second read. And leave me a comment here underneath.

From prehistoric times, humans have watched the flight of birds, longed to imitate them, but lacked the power to do so. Logic dictated that if the small muscles of birds can lift them into the air and sustain them, then the larger muscles of humans should be able to duplicate the feat. No one knew about the intricate mesh of muscles, sinew, heart, breathing system, and devices not unlike wing flaps, variable-camber and spoilers of the modern airplane that enabled a bird to fly. Still, thousands of years and countless lives were lost in attempts to fly like birds.

The identity of the first “bird-men” who fitted themselves with wings and leapt off a cliff in an effort to fly are lost in time, but each failure gave those who wished to fly questions that needed answering. Where had the wing flappers gone wrong? Philosophers, scientists, and inventors offered solutions, but no one could add wings to the human body and soar like a bird. During the 1500s, Leonardo da Vinci filled pages of his notebooks with sketches of proposed flying machines, but most of his ideas were flawed because he clung to the idea of birdlike wings. [Fig 1] By 1655, mathematician, physicist, and inventor Robert Hooke concluded the human body does not possess the strength to power artificial wings. He believed human flight would require some form of artificial propulsion.

The quest for human flight led some practitioners in another direction. In 1783, the first manned hot air balloon, crafted by Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, flew for 23 minutes. Ten days later, Professor Jacques Charles flew the first gas balloon. A madness for balloon flight captivated the public’s imagination and for a time flying enthusiasts turned their expertise to the promise of lighter-than-air flight. But for all its majesty in the air, the balloon was little more than a billowing heap of cloth capable of no more than a one-way, downwind journey.

Balloons solved the problem of lift, but that was only one of the problems of human flight. The ability to control speed and direction eluded balloonists. The solution to that problem lay in a child’s toy familiar to the East for 2,000 years, but not introduced to the West until the 13th century. The kite, used by the Chinese manned for aerial observation and to test winds for sailing, and unmanned as a signaling device and as a toy, held many of the answers to lifting a heavier-than-air device into the air.

One of the men who believed the study of kites unlocked the secrets of winged flight was Sir George Cayley. Born in England 10 years before the Mongolfier balloon flight, Cayley spent his 84 years seeking to develop a heavier-than-air vehicle supported by kite-shaped wings. [Fig 2] The “Father of Aerial Navigation,” Cayley discovered the basic principles on which the modern science of aeronautics is founded, built what is recognized as the first successful flying model, and tested the first full-size man-carrying airplane.

For the half-century after Cayley’s death, countless scientists, flying enthusiasts, and inventors worked toward building a powered flying machine. Men, such as William Samuel Henson, who designed a huge monoplane that was propelled by a steam engine housed inside the fuselage, and Otto Lilienthal, who proved human flight in aircraft heavier than air was practical, worked toward the dream of powered flight. A dream turned into reality by Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903.

The bicycle-building Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio, had experimented for 4 years with kites, their own homemade wind tunnel, and different engines to power their biplane. One of their great achievements was proving the value of the scientific, rather than build-it-and-see approach to flight. Their biplane, The Flyer, combined inspired design and engineering with superior craftsmanship. [Fig 3] By the afternoon of December 17th, the Wright brothers had flown a total of 98 seconds on four flights. The age of flight had arrived.

The flight from Dover AFB broke eight existing world marks and established standards in 33 other categories where there had been no previous record attempt. The records were set in the Class C-1.S, Jet category for altitude in horizontal flight, altitude with payload, time-to-climb, time-to-climb with payload and greatest payload to 2,000 meters. The aircraft carried a payload of more than 80,000 kg (the actual measured payload weight was 176,610 lb) to an altitude of more than 41,100 feet in 23 minutes, 59 seconds.

The Class C-1.S Jet category is for aircraft weighing from 250,000 kilograms (551,155 pounds) to 300,000 kg (661,386 lb). The C-5M had a takeoff weight of 649,680 lb, which included fuel, crew weight, necessary equipment, and the payload, which was loaded on 29 standard U.S. military 463L cargo pallets. All C-5s are capable of carrying 36 pallets.

The flight set a new record for altitude with payload of 41,188 feet. It also set marks for time-to-climb and time-to-climb with 35,000 kg (77,162 lb), 40,000 kg (88,185 lb), 45,000 kg (99,208 lb), 50,000 kg (110,231 lb), 60,000 kg (132,277 lb), 70,000 kg (154,323 lb), and 80,000 kg payload. The flight took 4 minutes, 13 seconds to reach 3,000 m (9,843 ft) altitude; 7 min., 27 sec to get to 6,000 m (19,685 ft); 13 min., 8 sec. to fly to 9,000 m (29,528 ft); and 23 min., 59 sec to fly to 12,000 meters (39,371 ft).

The flight also broke existing class records for altitude in horizontal flight (41,116 ft) and altitude with 35,000 kg, 40,000 kg, 45,000 kg, 50,000 kg, 60,000 kg, and 70,000 kg payload (41,188 ft). The mission broke the record for greatest payload (80,036 kg/176,610 lbs) to 2,000 meters (6,562 ft) as well.

All of the records will first be certified as United States national records by the National Aeronautic Association, the nation’s oldest aviation organization. The NAA, based in Arlington, Va., is the U.S. representative to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the sanctioning body for all world aviation records. Formal approval of the C-5M records by the Lausanne, Switzerland-based FAI is expected to take several weeks.

Source: Lockheed Martin