February 9, 1907

Pilot Charles A. Anderson, best known for his work at the Tuskegee Institute, was born in Pennsylvania. Though mainly self-taught, Anderson became the first African-American to earn a commercial transport pilot license and, in 1934, completed the first transcontinental roundtrip flight by black pilots in his plane, the Booker T. Washington. Anderson moved to Tuskegee in 1940 to become chief civilian flight instructor at Kennedy Field and later Moton Field, where he trained many of the Tuskegee Airmen. Anderson founded the Negro Aviation International Association in 1967 and was inducted into the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Moton Field Instructors, 1945. (United States Army Air Forces)

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. (Erin Harney)

Replica of a Red Tail-painted P-51 in Hangar 2. (Erin Harney)

Restored Stearman PT-17 biplane on display in Hangar 1. (Erin Harney)

Museum display in Hangar 2. (Erin Harney)

“Fliers of a P-51 Mustang Group of the 15th Air Force in Italy `shoot the breeze’ in the shadow of one of the Mustangs they fly.” Left to right: Lt. Dempsey W. Morgan, Jr.; Lt. Carroll S. Woods; Lt. Robert H. Nelson, Jr.; Capt. Andrew D. Turner; and Lt. Clarence P. Lester. Photograph is estimated to have been taken in August 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Army)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.