GAIL DRAKE: Bessie Coleman: Pioneer pilot

“They shall mount up with wings as eagles.”

— Isaiah 40:31

Gen. Colin Powell once noted that “a dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” This truism is displayed in the history of African Americans in the field of aeronautics. Earlier aviators flew through the headwinds of prejudice to achieve the exceptional. The woman who pioneered flight for black women was the lovely Bessie Coleman.

On a bright morning on Sept. 3, 1922, a crowd gathered at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City. The stands filled with those excited to see a special airshow scheduled to honor the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment returning from World War I. The “barnstorming” show featured nine American ace pilots, including “the world’s greatest woman flier.”

The darling and daring lady pilot appeared, a tiny flamboyant figure dressed in a military-like uniform, high boots, aviator hat and goggles. She fired up her Jenny biplane, lifted off into the sky, and then performed figure eights, loops and death-defying deep dives. Her fans would call her “Queen Bess.”

Bessie was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot’s license. Which she had to earn across the ocean in France because American flight schools in the U.S. did not admit women or black people in the 1920s. She was the first black person to earn an international pilot’s license from the “Fédération Aéronautique Internationale” in 1921, where Amelia Earhart would earn her license the following year.

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born in Atlanta, the 10th of 13 children. The family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, (south of Dallas) where they lived as sharecroppers. Between chores, church and farm work, Bessie excelled in school, especially in math. A few years later, her father left his family and returned to Oklahoma. Bessie enrolled in college but had to drop out when funds ran out.

At age 23, Bessie moved to Chicago to live with her brothers and worked in various jobs as a laundress, manicurist, and restaurant manager while saving money for flight school. She was befriended by publisher Robert Abbot of the Chicago Defender (Chicago’s premier black newspaper), who championed her dream and advised her to study French. Then he helped secure funding for her to study abroad.

Flight school in Paris was grueling as she trained at the Fédération and later with French ace pilots. She learned to fly Nieuport biplanes, known for “a steering system … with a vertical stick the thickness of a baseball bat in front of the pilot and a rudder bar under the pilot’s feet.” When she returned to America with her newfound aviation skills, Bessie became an immediate media sensation.

For the next five years, the beautiful “aviatrix” thrilled audiences in “barnstorming” stunt flier shows, performing dangerous stunts so popular in the novel world of aviation. She flew primarily surplus aircraft left over from World War I, made of wood and fabric. She viewed her role as an opportunity to combat racism. She adamantly refused to participate in shows that excluded blacks in the audience. Her dream was to earn money to start an aeronautics school for African Americans. She said, “The air is the only place free from prejudices. I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor women, and I knew the race needed to be represented along this most important line, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn aviation.”

Flight was dangerous, especially in airplanes sometime seemingly built from chewing gum and rubber bands. In an airshow in Los Angeles in 1923, her plane stalled and crashed, resulting in a broken leg and three ribs. It took over a year of healing and funding before she flew again.

In April 1926, Bessie purchased another Jenny plane and attempted to fly cross-country. Three forced landings revealed how poorly that plane had been maintained. The day before an airshow in Jacksonville, Fla., she asked her parachutist, William Wills, to pilot while she surveyed the terrain. Ten minutes into the flight, the plane went into a dive, then a spin. Bessie was thrown from the plane at 2,000 feet and was killed instantly. Wills could not regain control and the plane crashed and burned. In examining the wreckage, investigators discovered that a wrench used for repairs had been left in the engine and jammed the controls.

Bessie’s pioneering achievements inspired contemporaries and future generations. Per famed aviator Lt. William Powell, who authored “Black Wings:” “Because of Bessie Coleman, we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.” Lt. Powell also founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club that airdrops flowers on her Chicago grave every year.

A fearless black girl born in Atlanta in 1892 who became a queen that dominated the skies? All that … and more.