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Willa Brown Chappell became the first African-American woman
to earn a commercial pilot's license. She helped train approximately 200 pilots who
went on to be known as "Tuskegee Airmen" who flew in WWII.
Education and Early
Career
Chappell graduated from Indiana State Teachers College with
a degree in education. She earned a master's degree in 1938. Her flight training began in 1934 at
Chicago's Aeronautical University. Chappell passed the exam with a score of
96%. She earned a master aviation certificate, commercial pilot's license,
instructor's rating, and radio license by 1939.
Chappell worked as a school teacher before most of her time
began to revolve around flight. She taught commerce at Roosevelt High School in
Gary, Indiana.
Pilot and Instructor
In 1939 she was a federal coordinator of civilian pilot
training. She founded the National Airmen
Association of America. The mission of
the organization was to encourage African Americans to join the U.S. Air Force.
With Lieutenant Cornelius R. Coffee, whom she married, she
started the Coffee School of Aeronautics. More than 200 of the students trained
in the program went on to fly in WWII and were known as the Tuskegee
Airmen. This group flew with distinction
despite racial discrimination.
Chappell became the first African American officer in the
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) when she was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. She was the federal coordinator of the
Chicago unit of the CAP civilian pilot training program.
Chappell added another record to her name, becoming the
first woman in the U.S. to have both a commercial pilot's license and a
mechanic's license in 1943.
Willa Chappell is pictured fifth from the left in this photo.
Resources:
Aviation
Museum of Kentucky: Willa Brown Chappell
AvStop.Com:
Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell
University of
Kentucky Libraries: Chappell, Willa B.
Wikipedia:
Tuskegee Airmen
Wikipedia:
Willa Brown
Women in
Aviation: Willa Brown
http://visions.indstate.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vchs&CISOPTR=939
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Re: Willa Brown Chappell (1906-1992): Pilot and Trainer of Tuskegee Airmen
