A Tuskegee Airman from Ashland, Kentucky

Lt. Col. Washington DuBois Ross. 

The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II.  Formally, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Corps (United States Army Air Forces after June 20, 1941).  The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces. The American military was racially segregated, and the Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to racial discrimination, both within and outside the army.  Despite these adversities, they trained and flew with distinction.

Thanks to aviation historian William E. Martin, I learned that one of these American heroes, Lt. Col. Washington DuBois Ross, lived in Ashland, KY, during his formative years--between 1923 and 1936--and took his first airplane ride in a Ford Trimotor at the Ashland Airport in the early 1930's.

Ross was born on March 4, 1919, in Mound Bayou, MS, then moved to Michigan. The family relocated to Ashland, KY, in 1923, the year that Ashland Airport was established.  His family lived on 35th Street, just a block from the airport's entrance, so during the later 1920s and early 1930s he and his siblings walked down to the airport often. It was there his interest in aviation began.  In an interview with Jeep Blog in March 2012, Lt. Col. Ross recounted his first flight at Ashland:

"I was 12-years old and the pilots would barnstorm, and one Sunday they announced you could take flights at noon. On Sundays you went to church so I missed the first round, but we got our pennies [passengers were charged a fare of a penny a pound]  together for the second round of flights. They started the engines and [the Ford Trimotor] shook. I started to think maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, but it staggered into the air and circled Ashland, and I told my parents I wanted to be a pilot."

Lt. Col. Ross was educated first at Booker T. Washington School in Ashland, KY, where his father, Robert Ross, was a teacher and administrator.  He then attended Ironton High School, across the river in Ironton, OH, because it was integrated.  He left Ashland in 1936 to enter Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, VA, where he graduated with honors.  At Hampton, he entered the Civilian Flight Training Program and earned his Private Pilot License.

During World War II Lt. Col. Ross flew patrols over Naples, Italy, in a Bell P-39 Airacobra and bomber escorts in a North American P-51 Mustang, establishing a record of 63 sorties and missions.

Lt. Col. Ross was inducted into the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011, at the age of 92.

Watch a video and read a biography of Lt. Col. Ross on the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame website.  Read the full interview with Lt. Col. Ross in Jeep Blog.  Learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen on the official website of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum.  Find more information about the Tuskegee Airmen on the Wikipedia entry on the Tuskegee Airmen.

In January 2012, a feature-length film about the Tuskegee Airmen was released.  Titled Red Tails, the film is directed by Anthony Hemmingway and co-produced by George Lucas.  Learn more about Red Tails.

Lt. Col. Washington DuBois Ross died at his residence in Southfield, MI, on October 9, 2017. An obituary by Mike James was published in the Daily Independent of Ashland, KY, on October 10, 2018.

Photo courtesy Jeep Blog.

Copyright © 2012, 2018 Ronald W. Kenyon. Warning: this blog is protected under copyright. Do not plagiarize!