In 1941, the Tuskegee Institute Board of Directors decided to construct an improved airfield to enable more students to train for and obtain their pilot’s licenses. To do this, $200,000 would be needed to build the runway and facilities. One of the entities contacted as a possible source for funding was the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Chicago, where Eleanor…
As a young boy, Charles Alfred Anderson was fascinated by airplanes and knew he just had to fly. By the time he was 20, he had saved enough money for flying lessons; however, no one would teach a young black man to fly. Not deterred, Anderson attended aviation ground school, where he learned airplane mechanics, and spent time around airports,…
Charles Phillip Bailey was born on November 25, 1918, in Punta Gorda, Florida. He was the son of Archie Bailey and Josephine Bailey. Bailey attended the historically black university Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he played football on a full scholarship. Bailey possessed a deep desire in becoming a pilot but, Bethune-Cookman University did not have a civil…
