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Perry H. Young, Jr.

Perry H. Young, Jr., (born March 12,1919 - November 8, 1998) was an airplane and helicopter pilot whose career spanned more than 50 years. Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Young's family relocated to Oberlin, Ohio, where Young attended Oberlin High School and later earned his private pilot's license from Oberlin College, shortly before dropping out. Three years later, Young became an U.S. Army instructor for the 99th Pursuit Squadron better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, making him the first African American flight instructor for the United States Army Air Corps, preparing young pilots for missions during World War II. In 1956, after moving his family to both Haiti and Puerto Rico, Young accepted to work for New York Airways as both an airline and helicopter pilot. However, Young is best known for being the first African American in the United States to be hired by a commercial airline,[1] after completing his first scheduled commercial flight on February 5, 1957, when he co-piloted a nine minute, 12 passenger helicopter flight from La Guardia Airport to Idlewild Airport.[2]

Early life and education[edit] Young was born on March 12, 1919, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to Henry Young, Sr. of Spartanburg, South Carolinaand Edith Lucile Motte Young of North Carolina and would later be known as the first African American to fly a scheduled commercial passenger airline.[3][4] Young's mother, Edith Lucile Motte Young, is best known for being one of the initial twenty two founding members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority which was founded on January 13, 1913, however she was also an accomplished pianist a teacher. His father, Henry Young, Sr., was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina and ran a dry cleaning store and also owned several garages. Young's parents met in [[Orangeburg], South Carolina, where his mother worked at the Claflin University shortly after graduating a year early from Howard University's Teachers College. [5] The couple got married and started their family consisting of four children, two girls (Mrs. Farra Holmes (Young) Foster, (1920- 2005) of Springfield Gardens, New York and Bernesis (Young) Russo (19??-??) of Monte Carlo, Morocco) and two boys (William W. Young (19??-????) and Perry H. Young, Jr.).[6]

Perry Henry Young, Sr. (left), and wife Edith Lucile Motte Young (about age thirty) sitting in front of their 50th wedding anniversary cake. Young's father, Perry Henry Young, Sr., and mother, Edith Lucile Motte Young, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at their home in Oberlin, Ohio In 1929, the Young family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, after detecting the musical talent of the two daughters who were soon enrolled into the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.[7] In 1937, right after graduating from Oberlin High School, Young took his first flight on an airplane and decided he would become a pilot, just days after Amelia Earhart had disappeared while trying to fly around the globe. Later that summer, Young started his flight lessons and flew his first plane on Christmas Day 1937.[8] He worked odd jobs such as washing cars over the summer while attending courses at Oberlin College, earning $9 a week to pay for flying lessons that cost $5.25 for 20 minutes.[9] Young decided to attend Oberlin College instead of accepting a four-year scholarship to the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In 1939, he earned his private pilot’s license at the age of 20 and dropped out of college a year later to pursue his promising career in aviation.[10]

After completing his training Young tried for three years (1939-1942) to be hired as a commercial pilot but due to racial discrimination in the industry, he could not get a pilot's job.

Eight Tuskegee Airmen in front of a P-40 fighter aircraft Shortly after the United States entered World War II, however, the U.S. Armyhired Young as an instructor for the 99th Pursuit Squadron better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Young worked for the Army through the rest of World War II, instructing more than 150 men and was praised for his expert training which resulted in the Tuskegee Airmen becoming often decorated pilots.[11]

Very few of us knew anything about flying -- few blacks did -- and we thought our instructors were going to be white, said Lee Andrew Archer, 77, an African-American fighter pilot who destroyed more enemy planes than any other in the squadron. When I saw men like Perry Young, I was surprised and proud. They were like minor gods to me.[12]

Nonetheless, after the war ended he still could not get a position as a commercial pilot.

In 1946 Young left the U.S. to find pilot's work in the Caribbean. His first stop was Haiti where he flew for the national airline and tried unsuccessfully to start his own airline business. While in Haiti, Young married and he and his first wife, Hansi Berthed, had three children over the next decade.

After his failed airline venture in Haiti and a brief stint as a pilot in the U.S Virgin Islands, Young moved his family to Puerto Rico in 1955 and worked as a pilot for the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority. While he was living in Puerto Rico, he earned his helicopter pilot’s license.

New York Airways BV-107 after landing at JFK airport Finally, in 1956 at the age of 37, (17 years after he had earned his first pilot's license) Young was hired by New York Airways, a regional carrier, as both an airline and helicopter pilot, in an aggressive campaign to break the color barrier in the commercial airline business.[13] On February 5, 1957, Young flew his first commercial flight when he co-piloted a nine minute, 12 passenger helicopter flight from La Guardia Airport to Idlewild Airport.[14][15]Young had previously made history as the first African American flight instructor for the United States Army Air Corps.[16] Young eventually reached the rank of captain at New York Airways and by that point he flew both helicopters and commercial passenger airliners.

He was both an airplane and helicopter pilot, said Mr. Jones, 63. He would have preferred to fly planes. But at that time, if your skin was dark, so were your chances of becoming a pilot of any kind.[17]

After Mr. Young was hired by New York Airways, other men became emboldened to challenge the status quo. Marlon Green, a former Air Force captain, took Continental Airlines all the way to the Supreme Court in 1963, winning a landmark judgment that opened interstate commercial airlines to black pilots.[18]

Young remained with New York Airways for 23 years until the company went bankrupt in 1979.[19] At the age of 60 Young began piloting for a Manhattan sightseeing service but retired after a few years (the exact date is unknown).

Perry Young, Jr., died on November 8, 1998, at the Horton Medical Center in Middletown, New York, leaving behind his second wife, and his two remaining children (Perry H. Young III and Linda Young-Ribeiro) and three grandchildren (Abeeku Mensah Ribeiro, Yokow Perry Ribeiro, and Ato Kwamena Takyi Ribeiro). Mr. Young, who lived in Pine Bush, N.Y., had cancer, said his wife, Shakeh Young.