Early African American Aviator Willa Brown

Willa Brown was the first African American woman to earn both a pilot’s license (1938) and a commercial license (1939). Brown was also the first African American woman to become an officer in the Illinois Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

While enrolled in a master's degree program at Northwestern University, Brown joined the Challenger Air Pilots Association and learned to fly at Harlem Field, on the southwest side of Chicago. In 1935, she earned her Master Mechanic Certificate, training at Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical University, and began giving flight and ground school instruction at the field.

One day in 1936, dressed in an aviator’s uniform of white jodhpurs, jacket, and boots, she walked into the Chicago Defender newspaper office and made a pitch for publicity for an African American air show to be held at Harlem Field. The advertising resulted in the attendance of between 200 and 300 people and showcased a number of talented Black pilots in the Chicago area. Enoch Waters, the editor of the paper, covered the event himself and went for a flight with Brown in a Piper Cub—a ride he wouldn’t soon forget.

An advocate of African American pilots, Brown also was a co-founder of National Airmen’s Association of America (NAA), a group for Black aviators, in 1939.

During World War II, Brown sought to join the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) but was rejected because of her race. She contributed in other ways to the war effort. Brown and her husband Cornelius Coffey organized Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Squadron 613 in conjunction with his school, the Coffey School of Aeronautics. She held the ranks of lieutenant and adjutant in the organization. The CAP flew anti-submarine machines, border patrols, and courier services, protecting the home front and freeing pilots for the war front.

Brown was the director of the Coffey School when it was selected by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as one of several Black schools and colleges to offer the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) — a program that trained thousands of pilots throughout the United States). The success of the Coffey School and other Black aviation students led to the eventual admission of African Americans into the Army Air Forces through the War Training Service Program (WTS) at these schools. This program provided a pool of instructors and trainees at Tuskegee Army Air Field. According to the World War II Museum, Brown was directly responsible for training over 200 future Tuskegee Airmen and instructors.

She continued to break new ground throughout her life, including in 1946 when she became the first African American woman to run for Congress.

Willa Brown’s work in the air and on land promoted awareness of African American pilots, made the way for them to join the military, and set an example for others.

This content was migrated from an earlier online exhibit, Women in Aviation and Space History, which shared the stories of the women featured in the Museum in the early 2000s.