When you think about black pilots, the Bessie Coleman probably comes to mind.

You see Bessie Coleman drive as you're headed into O'Hare Airport, and she's the namesake for Coleman Library and Woodlawn.

She was the first black woman to get her pilots license.

She was well known for taking part in daring air shows, and she spent her

short adulthood here in Chicago. So not only is she a major part of American history,

she started a black aviation movement that took root right here at home.

Because she was both black and a woman, she had to get that license in France.

She dreamed of opening up her own aviation school, but she died in a plane crash at the age of 34.

She didn't die in vain, though.

Bessie Coleman ushered in a wave of black people who weren't

just pilots, but who changed the face of black aviation, and they did so here in Chicago.

Two black pilots played a major role when they opened up the very first black-owned airport

in the far south suburb of Robbins, Illinois.

It led Curious City listener Floyd Webb to ask, what happened to that first black-owned airport in Robbins?

And did one of its pilots really go to Ethiopia and start the Ethiopian Air Force and its commercial airlines?

This is stuff I learned when I was a kid, right? I was like any kid, you know,

you're a bit fascinated by rockets and airplanes and things, but I used to walk downtown when

I was a kid like about 1958. We used to walk to the museum. I lived on

22nd and State Street. And there was a Curtis Wright Aviation. There was an aviation school there.

You know, and I talked to some of the old guys in the neighborhood when I was running around.

And they started telling me all these stories about black pilots that you don't hear today.

Floyd is a filmmaker who grew up in the Harold L. Icky's homes.

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