Blue Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation

At the age of seventeen, Samuel L. Broadnax, enamored with flying, enlisted and trained as a pilot at the Tuskegee Army Air Base. Although he left the Air Corps at the end of the Second World War, his experiences inspired him to talk with other pilots and black pioneers of aviation. Blue Skies, Black Wings recounts the history of African Americans in the skies from the very beginnings of manned flight. From Charles Wesley Peters, who flew his own plane in 1911, and Eugene Bullard, a black American pilot with the French in World War I, to the 1945 Freeman Field mutiny against segregationist policies in the Air Corps, Broadnax paints a vivid picture of the people who fought oppression to make the skies their own. Samuel L. Broadnax graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Base with Class-45A in March 1945 as a fighter pilot. One of the celebrated Tuskegee Airmen, he was assigned to the 332nd Replacement Training Unit. He later attended Yuba College, Howard University, and the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked as a newscaster and journalist. In 2006 the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

Author: Samuel L. Broadnax
Publisher: Bison
Published: 10/01/2008
Pages: 206
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.98h x 5.98w x 0.43d
ISBN13: 9780803217744
ISBN10: 0803217749
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies
- Transportation | Aviation | History
- History | Military | Aviation & Space

About the Author
Samuel L. Broadnax graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Base with Class-45A in March 1945 as a fighter pilot. One of the celebrated Tuskegee Airmen, he was assigned to the 332nd Replacement Training Unit. He later attended Yuba College, Howard University, and the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked as a newscaster and journalist. In 2006 the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.