Black History is American History. Black History is living history. Lookup Ensign Jesse L. Brown the first Black naval aviator and respected leader during the Korean War. The Red-Tailed Hawks are excited to announce Zander Hamilton has been selected for the 2022 Commander Naval Air Forces (CNAF) Flight Academy. This summer, Zander will complete his Private Pilot certification in a concentrated flight training program along with serval of his high school peers from around the country. Brown was the first and Zander certainly will not be last. Legacy Lift, Future Thrust…Jesse Leroy Brown was born in Mississippi, into a sharecropper family. He was a school athlete who excelled at math and dreamed of being a pilot from the time he was a young boy. On 21 October 1948, at the age of 22, Brown became the first Black man to complete Navy flight training. A public information officer released a photograph and story the next day with the headline, “First Negro Naval Aviator.” The story was picked up by the Associated Press and Brown’s picture appeared in Life magazine. Brown, then a section leader, flew a Vought F4U-4 Corsair, and on 4 December 1950, on the way to Chosin Reservoir with his squadron, Brown was hit by enemy fire and crash-landed on the side of a mountain and died of his wounds. Ensign Jesse Brown posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and Purple Heart and was honored when the USS Jesse L. Brown (DE-1089) was launched in 1973.#FlyHawks
