Janet Harmon Bragg
was a registered nurse inspired to fly by the exploits
of Bessie Coleman, the first licensed black pilot in the
United States. She earned her pilot's license in 1932
at the Aeronautical University, Inc., in Chicago, Illinois,
and because she was one of the few black pilots still
employed during the Depression, Bragg paid for most of
the airplanes used by the Challenger Air Pilots Association
during the 1930s. During World War II she was rebuffed
by both the Women's Airforce Service Pilots and a license
examiner in Alabama from contributing to the war effort
as a pilot; the government also refused her services as
a nurse. After the war, Bragg married and ran two nursing
homes until she retired in Tucson, Arizona. |