- Oct 25, 2005
- 1,210
- 23
June 15, 1921
Bessie Coleman became the first African-American to receive her civilian pilot's license. American flight schools would not admit Coleman, so she traveled to France and received her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
July 28, 1933
Charles Alfred Anderson and Albert Forsythe became the first African-American civilian pilots to make a transcontinental flight, flying from Atlantic City, N.J., to Los Angeles and back without the aid of landing lights, parachutes, radios, or blind-flying instruments.
March 7, 1942
The Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black combat fighter pilots, form the 99th Fighter Squadron and receive their wings.
Sept. 18, 1980
Cuban Col. Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez becomes the first black man in outer space on the Soviet mission Salyut 6.
Aug. 30, 1983
NASA astronaut Guion "Guy" Bluford became the first African-American astronaut in outer space. He was on Challenger's third flight, but the first mission with a night launch and night landing.
Source: Centennial of Flight and news archives
Bessie Coleman became the first African-American to receive her civilian pilot's license. American flight schools would not admit Coleman, so she traveled to France and received her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
July 28, 1933
Charles Alfred Anderson and Albert Forsythe became the first African-American civilian pilots to make a transcontinental flight, flying from Atlantic City, N.J., to Los Angeles and back without the aid of landing lights, parachutes, radios, or blind-flying instruments.
March 7, 1942
The Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black combat fighter pilots, form the 99th Fighter Squadron and receive their wings.
Sept. 18, 1980
Cuban Col. Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez becomes the first black man in outer space on the Soviet mission Salyut 6.
Aug. 30, 1983
NASA astronaut Guion "Guy" Bluford became the first African-American astronaut in outer space. He was on Challenger's third flight, but the first mission with a night launch and night landing.
Source: Centennial of Flight and news archives