Washington Dubois Ross
Military
Fighter Pilot
332nd Fighter Group - 15th AF
Object Number - UPL 48976 - 1LT Washington DuBois Ross Fighter Pilot 332nd Fighter Group - 15th AF
"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." - Washington D. Ross
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Twelfth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Mound Bayou, Mississippi | 4 March 1919 | |
| Ashland, Kentucky | 16 October 1940 | 3412 Greenup Avenue He was a student at the Hampton Institute in Virginia | |
|
Died |
Southfield, Michigan | 9 October 2017 | DETROIT A World War II aviator who spent his childhood in Ashland and went on to become one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen has died. Washington DuBois Ross, 98, died at his residence, a senior living facility in the Detroit area, according to Bill Martin, a local aviation historian who several years ago interviewed Ross for a book on Burgess Field, Ashland’s first airport. Martin received notification of Ross’ death from another resident of the facility who was a close friend of the former aviator. Ross also was the son of Robert Ross, a well-remembered teacher at the former Booker T. Washington School which African-American students attended during the Jim Crow era of segregation. Martin spoke with Ross in 2012 and devoted a chapter to the aviator in his book, “Ashland Airport, Kentucky’s Forgotten Field.” The Ross family lived on 35th Street, which was a short walk to the airfield, which later was known as Ashland Airport. During his youth, Ross watched planes take off and land at the field, and took his first flight as a passenger at 12 on a Ford Trimotor with his family. He got his first flight training at Hampton Institute in Virginia and earned his pilot’s license. The entry of the United States into World War II brought with it the need for pilots, and at first African-Americans were not considered. The Tuskegee Airmen was an experimental program to test the widespread belief that African-Americans couldn’t make it as combat pilots. Ross was brought into the program and with his compatriots proved the conventional thinking wrong. The group compiled a stellar record of protecting American bombers in their P-51 Mustang fighters with their distinctive red rudders. By the war’s end he had flown 63 missions. |
|
Buried |
Holly, Michigan | 12 October 2017 | Great Lakes National Cemetery Holly, Oakland County, Michigan, USA Plot SECTION 14 SITE 1893 |
Revisions
Contributor466thHistorian
Changes
