Tag Archives: Bessie Coleman

Queen Bess

Posted on January 11, 2009 | Comments Off on Queen Bess

The first American to earn an international pilot’s license (in 1921), Bessie Coleman was a cool Texan from Waxahachie who bought her first biplane at Love Field in Dallas: an old JN-4 ("Jenny") with an OX-5 engine. With it she became a sensational barnstormer and occasional parachutist. But in 1926 she fell to her death from its open cockpit when the plane went out of control. Nowadays she’s memorialized all over the place, including the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame–and in at least one book.

Inspired by Miriam’s Ideas.

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Bessie Coleman

Posted on February 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Bessie Coleman

For Black History Month, Miriam at Miriam’s Ideas comes up with a thoughtful look at the first licensed African-American pilot, Bessie Coleman, a Texas native who barnstormed across the state.

"Every Memorial Day, black men and women aviators fly in formation over the grave of Bessie Coleman, dropping bouquests of flowers on the grave of the first black woman ever to earn a pilot’s license."

The manner of Coleman’s premature death is a reminder of how much things have changed since the open-cockpit, wooden spar and wire-and-cloth days of the 1920s.

UPDATE  Transcript of good 2002 Voice of America feature on Coleman. And this longer, very detailed feature about her flying in Lockheed-Martin’s quarterly magazine Code One.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana

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