Willa Brown did not achieve anything very spectacular in the air. There were enough pilots, both men and women, doing remarkable things during the 1930s and 1940s. She did become the first female African-American pilot to be licensed in the US and the first African-American officer of either gender in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). However, her contribution to aviation was far more significant on the ground.

Unfazed by the racial prejudice that pervaded the country at the time she became an activist for racial equality and strove to dismantle as many barriers as possible. And though the struggle was long and hard she witnessed amazing transformation, including the eventual racial integration of the US military.

Willa Beatrice Brown was born on January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky. In the early 1930s, she worked as a maid to pay her bills in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree with the aim of becoming a qualified teacher. However, she was too feisty to settle for a mundane teaching assignment. She began looking for something exciting to do that was not open to blacks and finally chanced upon flying. It was the time when aviators like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were regularly in the news, but it was no easy matter for an African American to join flying classes. In 1920, even Bessie Coleman had to go to France to earn her pilot’s licence because no American flight school would accept her.

However, Willa Brown was not to be deterred and began to take flying lessons in 1934. In 1935 she gained a master’s certificate in aviation mechanics from the Aeronautical University. She also joined the Challenger Air Pilots Association, one of the first African-American pilot’s organisations and the Chicago Girls Flight Club. Once when she was planning an African-American airshow to be held at Harlem Airport, she immediately realised that the event needed publicity. Rather than wait for some reporter to turn up, she strode into the headquarters of one of Chicago’s leading newspapers and told them about it. Impressed with her poise, sense of purpose and dedication, the editor Enoch Waters became her staunch supporter. He came himself to the airshow and flew with her. As a result, about 300 people attended the event and got to know of talented black pilots of Chicago. That was typical of Willa: make things happen my way.

Although Willa knew how to fly, obtaining her pilot’s licence was another matter. Finally she turned to an African-American, Cornelius Coffey, a certified flight instructor and aviation mechanic. He accepted her for intensive training at one of Chicago’s airports reserved for blacks and she gained her pilot’s licence in June 1938. She thus became the first female African-American to get a pilot’s licence in the US. And later she became the first African-American woman to simultaneously hold a commercial pilot’s licence and a mechanic’s licence. She even conducted classes in aircraft mechanics.

Perhaps inevitably, Coffey and Brown got married. In 1939, they set up the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago. They began with Piper J-3 Cub aircraft but later converted to Waco UPF-7 biplanes. Although their main aim was to train black pilots and aviation mechanics they placed no restriction on gender or race and had many white students too, thus preparing the way for the eventual integration of the aviation industry.

While Coffey was the Chief Flight Instructor, Willa was its Director and taught aircraft mechanics. However, she continued to fly, training about 200 pilots and concentrating mainly on coaching weaker students in her free time. The couple had a compassionate reputation and saw to it that no student lacked basic needs irrespective of his capacity to pay. In all, the school turned out over 1,000 pilots.

This was the first of Willa’s lifelong attempts to dismantle race barriers in aviation including racially integrating the Civilian Pilot Training Program, the CAP and the US military. She and Coffey established CAP Squadron 613 and she held the rank of Lieutenant and Adjutant in the squadron. This made her the first African-American officer of either gender in the CAP. They also helped form the National Airmen’s Association of America in 1939, whose main goal was to get black aviation cadets into the US military.

As World War II loomed and the American military realised that whites alone would not be able to fill enough cockpits, the Coffey School was ideally placed to supply African-American pilots and flight instructors. Many ex-students joined the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron, also known as The Tuskegee Airmen, which flew combat missions over Europe during the War. These were the first African-American military aviators in the US armed forces and they brought Willa’s dream of racial equality a step closer.

After the War she continued her tireless efforts towards racial justice, with many exhibition flights and public appearances. Her persistence, eloquence and passion for the cause made her a major factor in the eventual integration of the US military by Order of President Harry Truman in 1948.

Willa Brown died in Chicago on July 18, 1992, at the age of 86. She is remembered as a strong, confident and good-looking woman. She made full use of her talents and refused to be cowed or disheartened by the open hostility she encountered most of her life. She even ran for the US Congress thrice. Although she did not win, this probably paved the way for Barack Obama to become the first African-American President of the United States of America.