Willa Brown Chappell
Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Willa Brown Chappell (1906-1992). This Glasgow native was the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S., 1937. That year, she also earned masters degree from Northwestern Univ. She was first African American officer in Civil Air Patrol(1941) & first American woman to hold both a mechanic’s license & commercial pilot’s license (1943). (Reverse) Co-founder of National Airmen’s Association of America, which worked to get African Americans into U.S. Air Force. In 1940, she co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics which trained black pilots. Some of these pilots became part of the Tuskegee Airmen. She was influential in the integration of the U.S. military in 1948. Presented by the Glasgow B&PW Club
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
A Glasgow native, Willa Brown Chappell became the first African American woman to earn a U.S. pilot's license in 1937 and, within a few years, the first American woman to hold both mechanic's and commercial pilot's licenses. She co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics, which trained Black pilots—some of whom joined the Tuskegee Airmen—and the National Airmen's Association, which pressed to open the Air Force to African Americans. As the first Black officer in the Civil Air Patrol, she became a leading voice for integrating the U.S. military.
Why it matters
Chappell helped break aviation's color and gender barriers at once, and her training school fed directly into the effort that desegregated the American armed forces in 1948.
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Related people
- · Willa Brown Chappell
Related events
- · Tuskegee Airmen
- · Integration of the U.S. military
Themes & tags
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