WILLA BROWN

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY JAN. 22, 1937 Willa Brown, first Black Woman to be a Commercial Pilot Willa Brown, born in Kentucky, January 22nd 1906. She studied business at Indiana State University and at Northwestern University. After a series of jobs, her aviation career started with learning to be an engine mechanic. In 1937, Brown became the African-American woman to earn a commercial pilot’s license. In 1942, the Civil Air Patrol named her a lieutenant. She and her husband opened their own flight academy, which during WWII trained hundreds of pilots, some of whom went on to be Tuskegee Airmen. A life-long Republican, Brown ran for Congress three times.