The first Black woman in the US to earn a private pilot's license (1938) and a commercial pilot's license (1939). She co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics and helped train future Tuskegee Airmen.

What was the Coffey School of Aeronautics?

A flight school at Harlem Airport in Chicago that Willa Brown co-founded with Cornelius Coffey. It trained Black pilots when most aviation programs refused them.

How did Willa Brown help create the Tuskegee Airmen?

As a member of the National Airmen's Association of America she lobbied Congress and the War Department, which helped establish the program in 1941. Many future Tuskegee Airmen trained at her school.

What did the Tuskegee Airmen achieve?

They flew more than 15,000 sorties and earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, helping pave the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948.

What other firsts did Willa Brown achieve?

She became the first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol and was appointed to the FAA's Women's Advisory Board in 1972.

Willa Brown: The Pilot Who Trained Tuskegee Airmen

The educator and aviator who proved Black pilots could fly, then trained a generation to prove it again

Cover photo: Willa Brown in uniform, about 1943. National Archives, public domain

If Bessie Coleman opened the door to the sky for Black women, Willa Brown held it wide open for everyone who came after. In 1938 she became the first Black woman to earn a private pilot's license in the United States, and in 1939 the first to earn a commercial license. Then she used that achievement to help train the Tuskegee Airmen, the Black fighter pilots who proved American military leadership wrong about who could fly and fight.

Who was Willa Brown? She was the first Black woman in the US to earn a private pilot's license (1938) and a commercial license (1939). She co-founded and directed the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Chicago, lobbied for Black pilots in the Army Air Corps, and trained many future Tuskegee Airmen.

Key facts

Born: January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky. She grew up in Indiana.
Education: a teaching degree from Indiana State Teachers College and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Licenses: private pilot in 1938, commercial pilot in 1939.
The school: the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago, co-founded with Cornelius Coffey.
Later firsts: first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol, and a 1972 appointment to the FAA's Women's Advisory Board.

From Indiana to the Skies

Willa Beatrice Brown was born on January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky, and grew up in Indiana. She earned a teaching degree from Indiana State Teachers College and later a master's in business administration from Northwestern University. She was brilliant and ambitious, and she refused to accept limits.

In 1934 she began flying lessons at the Aeronautical University in Chicago. She earned her private pilot's license in 1938 and her commercial license in 1939, a historic achievement that got little recognition in an era that dismissed Black accomplishment.

The Coffey School of Aeronautics

Willa Brown and fellow flier Lola Albright in leather jackets beside light aircraft at Harlem Airport, Chicago, 1938 Photo: Willa Brown and Lola Albright, 1938. National Archives, public domain

Brown co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics with Cornelius Coffey (a pioneering Black aviator himself, and later her husband) and became its director. Based at Harlem Airport in Chicago, the school trained Black pilots when most aviation programs refused them.

The school was a flight school and a statement. Brown and Coffey believed that training Black aviators would show the U.S. military that Black Americans were fully capable of flying combat aircraft, at a time when military leaders openly claimed Black people lacked the intelligence and temperament to be pilots.

Lobbying for the Tuskegee Program

Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group listening intently at a briefing in 1945 Photo: Toni Frissell, 1945. Library of Congress, public domain

Brown trained pilots and fought for their right to serve. As a member of the National Airmen's Association of America, she lobbied Congress and the War Department to admit Black aviators to the Army Air Corps.

Her advocacy, together with pressure from civil rights organizations and the Black press, helped establish the Tuskegee Airmen program in 1941. Many of the pilots who became Tuskegee Airmen got their first training at the Coffey School under Brown.

The Tuskegee Airmen went on to compile one of the most distinguished combat records of World War II, flying more than 15,000 sorties and earning 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Their success helped pave the way for the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948.

A Lifetime of Service

1940s illustration by Charles Alston celebrating Lieutenant Willa Brown, aviatrix and maker of pilots Illustration: Charles Alston, 1943. National Archives, public domain

During the war, in 1941, she had already become the first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol. After it, she kept teaching and advocating for Black aviators, and in 1972 she was appointed to the Federal Aviation Administration's Women's Advisory Board. She stayed active in aviation education until her death in 1992.

The Legacy

Willa Brown understood that being first wasn't enough. She trained pilots and built an institution that outlasted her.

Pioneering means reaching back and pulling others forward. She built ladders for the people behind her, and that's the part of her story I carry with me. Read about the woman who flew before her, Bessie Coleman, and the woman who flew higher than either of them, Dr. Mae Jemison.

Willa Brown trained the pilots who changed military history. Learn about Willa and other Black history pioneers, then explore our upcoming trips and honor the women who flew before us.

6X Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist with 65+ countries visited across all 7 continents.