Willa Beatrice Brown
Willa Brown: An American Aviator
In 1937, Willa Brown earned a commercial pilot’s license in Chicago. She and her husband, Cornelius Coffey, organized a fully accredited flying school providing flight instruction for men and women, black and white. Willa was the organizing force in the creation of the National Airmen’s Association, whose mission was to lobby Congress for
the integration of the Army Air Corps. Her efforts were directly responsible for the creation of the renowned Tuskegee Airmen, which led to the integration of the US military services in 1948. This documentary tells the story of early black aviation and the extraordinary individuals who shaped this part of civil rights history. A film by Severo Perez, Cinematography by Virgil Harper and Still photography by Carlos Rene Perez.
Willa Beatrice Brown
Willa Beatrice Brown (born January 22, 1906 – died July 18, 1992) was an American aviator and educator.
Chappell was born in Glasgow, Kentucky and was a 1927 graduate of the Indiana State Teachers College with a degree in education. She received an M.B.A. from Northwestern University in 1937.
As a young high school teacher in Gary, Indiana, and later as a social worker in Chicago, Willa Brown felt that her talents were not being used to their greatest use; she sought greater challenges and adventures in life, especially if they could be found outside the limited career fields normally open to African Americans.
She decided to learn to fly, studying with Cornelius R. Coffey, a certified flight instructor and expert aviation mechanic at one of Chicago’s racially segregated airports. In 1938, she became the first African American woman who earned a private pilot’s license in the United States. (Fellow Chicagoan and aviator, Bessie Coleman had to go to France for her licence in 1921). Later, Brown and Coffey married and established the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago, where they trained black pilots and aviation mechanics.
Together with Cornelius Coffey and Enoch P. Waters, Willa Brown helped form the National Airmen’s Association of America in 1939, whose main goal was to get black aviation cadets into the United States military. As the organization’s national secretary and the president of the Chicago branch, Brown became an activist for racial equality.
Office for Emergency Management Publication Featuring Brown
She continually lobbied the government for integration of black pilots into the segregated Army Air Corps and the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), the system established by the Civil Aeronautics Authority to provide a pool of civilian pilots for use during national emergencies. Subsequently, when Congress finally voted to allow separate-but-equal participation of blacks in civilian flight training programs, the Coffey School of Aeronautics was chosen for participation in the CPTP.
Brown became the coordinator for the CPTP in Chicago. Later, her flight school was also selected by the U.S. Army to provide black trainees for the Air Corps pilot training program at the Tuskegee Institute.
Willa Brown eventually became the coordinator of war-training service for the Civil Aeronautics Authority and later was a member of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Women’s Advisory Board. She was the first black female officer in the Civil Air Patrol and the first black woman to hold a commercial pilot’s license in the United States.
In 2010, Ms. Brown was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Indiana State University Alumni Association.
Willa Brown – First Minority Woman to Earn a Commercial Pilot’s License
http://www.womeninaviation.com/willa.html
Willa Brown Chappell was a pioneering aviator who co-founded the National Airmen’s Association of America, an organization whose mission was to get African Americans into the United States Air Force. Inspired by Bessie Coleman, Chappell (then known as Willa Beatrice Brown) started taking flying lessons in 1934 at Chicago’s Aeronautical University. She earned her pilot’s license in 1937, making her the first African-American woman to be licensed to fly in the United States.
Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell made significant contributions to both politics and the field of aviation during her lifetime. Her career began in 1926 as a “commerce” teacher at the Roosevelt High School, Gary, Indiana. She moved to Chicago after receiving tenure and there met Col. John C. Robinson and Cornelius R. Coffey, both pioneer pilots and mechanics. Under their tutelage Willa was able to follow in the steps of her mentor, Bessie Coleman, and later organize the annual memorial fly-over of Bessie Coleman’s grave.
Aviation pioneer: Pilot Willa Brown (fifth from left) is shown surrounded by family and her co-pilot, Lola Jones (seventh from left), at Paul Cox Field in Terre Haute. / Photo provided by Vigo County Historical Society
In 1937 Willa earned her pilot’s license, making her the first African American woman to be licensed in the United States. Two years later she married Cornelius Coffey, who would become one of the Tuskegee Airmen. She was also a founding member of the National Airmen Association of America, the sole purpose of which was to lobby Congress for the racial integration of the U.S. Army Air Corps.
In 1941, with her flying service and aviation credentials, the U.S. government named Willa as the federal coordinator of the Chicago unit of the Civil Air Patrol civilian pilot training program. She was ranked an officer in this first integrated unit. Her efforts were directly responsible for the creation of the renowned Tuskegee Airmen, which led to the integration of the U.S. military services in 1948. She was instrumental in training more than 200 students who went on to become Tuskegee pilots.
