Tuesday marks 100th anniversary for Coleman

Middle school and high school female students register with members of the Ninety-Nines female pilots organization to take flights Saturday at the Hall-Miller Airport in Atlanta, Texas. The organization visited Atlanta to honor the memory of Bessie Coleman, a pioneer aviator from Atlanta, who became the first African American woman to earn an international pilot's license back on June 15, 1921.
Middle school and high school female students register with members of the Ninety-Nines female pilots organization to take flights Saturday at the Hall-Miller Airport in Atlanta, Texas. The organization visited Atlanta to honor the memory of Bessie Coleman, a pioneer aviator from Atlanta, who became the first African American woman to earn an international pilot's license back on June 15, 1921.

ATLANTA, Texas - The phrase "the sky's the limit" never really fit early American pioneer aviator Bessie Coleman because her achievements were limitless.

Tuesday will mark the 100th anniversary of Coleman's extraordinary achievement of acquiring her international pilot's license at age 29.

It seemed only fitting that a group of 12 women pilots, belonging to the all-female aviation group known as the Ninety-Nines, flew to Atlanta's Hall-Miller Airport Saturday to honor this historic aviator, as well as her hometown.

Upon arriving, the Ninety-Nines, members of this Oklahoma-based international organization of female pilots, sought to have at least 50 local girls, ages 13 to 19, to each register for a short flight in five of the airport's single-engine Cessnas.

"We are making sure that each of these girls will receive a certificate and a flight log book, showing that they have all taken their first flight," said Becky Smith, one of the organization's members.

Upon getting these 50 young aviation enthusiasts registered, the Ninety-Nines placed the "flight students" into three groups - with one group getting to fly first, the second group learning about aviation careers and a third group learning about flight training instruments.

Texarkana, Arkansas resident Thelma Forte, the parent of one of these kids, said that her 14-year-old daughter, Mia, has developed a strong interest in being a stewardess over the last few years.

"Mia is the first in my family not to choose a career in education," Forte said. "My mom was in education, I chose education and so did my younger sister. But Mia is the first to try something different."

For her part, Forte, who has recently gone back into public school administration following a brief retirement, said she admires Bessie Coleman, incredibly.

"You have to consider the fact that Bessie didn't have the computerized flight technology that we have today," Forte said. "Back then, all pilots had to work with were things like hand-held paper maps, compasses and gyroscopes, along with a lot of prayers to God."

Born to a sharecropper father and domestic worker mother, Coleman was the first female African-American pilot and first Native-American pilot to acquire an international license. She earned it from the Federation Aeoronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921.

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