Milton Crenchaw

{{short description|American Tuskegee Airman aviator (1919–2015)}}

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Milton Crenchaw

| honorific_suffix =

| native_name =

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| image = File:Milton Crenchaw.png

| alt =

| caption = Crenshaw in a WWII era photo

| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|01|13}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|11|17|1919|01|13}}

| birth_place = Little Rock, Arkansas U.S.

| death_place = Atlanta, Georgia U.S.

| placeofburial =

| placeofburial_label =

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| nickname =

| alma_mater =

| birth_name = Milton Pitts Crenchaw

| allegiance = United States of America

| branch = United States Army Air Force

| serviceyears = 1941-1972

| rank =

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| unit = Tuskegee Army Air Field

| commands = Flight instructor

| battles =

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| awards = {{Plainlist |

Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen
Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame

}}

| spouse = Ruby ({{nee|Hockenhull}}

| relations = Children: Dolores, Countess and Milton

}}

Milton Pitts Crenchaw (January 13, 1919 – November 17, 2015) was an American aviator who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and was the first Arkansan to be trained by the federal government as a civilian licensed pilot.{{cite web |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/dec/06/air-force-loses-legend-death-tuskegee-airman/ |title=Air Force loses a legend with death of Tuskegee airman |work=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette |author=Harry Brexel |date=December 6, 2015 |access-date=November 14, 2021}} He served during World War II as a civilian flight instructor.{{cite web |title=Milton Pitts Crenchaw (1919–2015) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/milton-pitts-crenchaw-4925/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |access-date=11 November 2021}} He was one of the two original supervising squadron members. In 1998 he was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame. The grandson of a slave, he was known as the "father of black aviation in Arkansas" who broke through color barriers in the military.

Early life

Crenchaw was born to Reverend Joseph C. Crenchaw and Ethel Pitts Crenchaw at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1919. His father was a local civil rights leader with the NAACP His grandfather was a slave. In 1937 he graduated from Dunbar High School in Arkansas.{{cite web |title=Original Tuskegee Airman reflects on his role in history |url=https://katv.com/archive/original-tuskegee-airman-reflects-on-his-role-in-history |website=KATV |date=January 16, 2012 |publisher=K#ATV |access-date=14 November 2021}} He enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute in 1939, to study auto mechanics.{{cite web |title=2015 In Memoriam – Milton Crenchaw |url=https://lrculturevulture.com/2015/12/31/2015-in-memoriam-milton-crenchaw/ |website=Little Rock Vulture |date=December 31, 2015 |access-date=11 November 2021}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomflyerstus0000moye/page/62/mode/2up |last=Moye |first=J. Todd |title=Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |page=62 }}

Crenchaw and Ruby Hockenhull were married on December 22, 1942 in Tuskegee, Alabama. They had 3 children: Dolores, Countess, and their son Milton.

Aviation career

File:Curtiss P-40, ¾-front view, in flight (00910460 023).jpg

Crenchaw went from living the life of a college student to flying in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). The CPTP was sponsored by the Army Air Corps under the auspices of the Civil Aeronautics Authority; after the start of WWII in Europe in 1939, there were very few combat pilots in the US and the AAC wanted to increase the number as insurance against any future conflict involving the United States. Crenchaw passed the CAA examination to become a licensed flight instructor on December 8, 1941, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He soon after transferred to program at Moton Field, home of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Crenshaw was named Primary Flight Instructor in 1942 at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was one of the two original supervising squadron members under Chief Pilot Charles A. Anderson.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/tuai/srs.pdf |page=87 (Footnote 190) |title=Moton Field / Tuskegee Airmen Special Resource Study |work=National Park Service |date=October 1998 |access-date=November 14, 2021}} Anderson was the first African-American man to have a private pilot license in 1929.

Crenchaw was instrumental in the creation of the first flight program at Philander Smith College from 1947 to 1953 where he continued to teach pilots.

Crenchaw worked for the federal government for 40 years, from 1941 to 1983, first with the U.S. Army Air Corps, which transitioned to the U.S. Air Force. Toward the end of his career he was an equal-opportunity officer in the Department of Defense and as a race-relations officer at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

United States Senator John Boozman (Arkansas) honored Crenchaw with a citation in the Congressional Record in 2015. He said that "Crenchaw helped break the barriers that existed in the military", a pioneer who "paved the way for integration in the United States Military and impacted generations of aviators".{{cite web |url=https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2015/12/boozman-recognizes-the-life-of-arkansas-aviator-milton-pitts-crenchaw |title=Boozman Recognizes the Life of Arkansas Aviator Milton Pitts Crenchaw |work=Congressional Record |via=Boozman website |author=John Boozman |date=December 1, 2015 |access-date=November 14, 2021}}

Death

Crenchaw had a heart attack on November 14, 2015, he was transported to the hospital and he died from complications related to pneumonia and cardiovascular disease, Tuesday November 17, 2015.{{cite news |title=One Of Last Original Tuskegee Airmen Instructors Dies At 96 |url=http://news.wabe.org/post/one-last-original-tuskegee-airmen-instructors-dies-96 |access-date=11 November 2021 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Atlanta NPR WABE |date=18 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120024206/http://news.wabe.org/post/one-last-original-tuskegee-airmen-instructors-dies-96 |archive-date=November 20, 2015 }}{{cite news |last1=Bowden |first1=Bill |title=Tuskegee Airman Crenchaw, aviation pioneer, dies at 96 |url=https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2015/nov/19/tuskegee-airman-crenchaw-aviation-pione/ |access-date=11 November 2021 |publisher=Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC |date=19 November 2015}} He was buried on December 1, 2015 at Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. A memorial ceremony was held at the state capital attended by Arkansas lawmakers and officials. His family were given citations from the House and Senate honoring his life, and a portrait of Crenchaw was displayed for one week at the capital.{{cite web |url=https://katv.com/news/local/crenchaw-to-be-memorialized-at-arkansas-capitol |title=Crenchaw memorialized at Arkansas Capitol |work=KATV |agency=Associated Press |author= |date=December 1, 2015 |access-date=November 14, 2021}}

Awards and honors

1998 Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame
2006 Congressional Gold Medal, awarded to Tuskegee Airmen{{cite web |last1=Kruzel |first1=John J. |title=President, Congress Honor Tuskegee Airmen |url=https://www.army.mil/article/2476/president_congress_honor_tuskegee_airmen |website=Army |date=March 30, 2007 |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=25 July 2019}}
2007 Arkansas Black Hall of Fame{{cite web |url=https://www.arblackhalloffame.org/honorees/2007/crenchaw/ |title=Milton P. Crenchaw |work=Arkansas Black Hall of Fame |access-date=November 14, 2021}}{{cite web |title=Arkansas Black Hall of Fame |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/arkansas-black-hall-of-fame-5092/|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |access-date=11 November 2021}}
2017 The Technical wing of a high school in Little Rock was named after Milton Crenchaw{{cite news |title=Superintendent submits name for new Little Rock high school |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/dec/15/poore-submits-name-for-new-high-school-/ |access-date=11 November 2021 |publisher=Arkansas Democrat-Gazette |date=15 December 2017}}

References

=Notes=

External links

Fly (2009 play about the 332d Fighter Group)
"[https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_111-jq0sq8qv5z In Their Words; Oral History with Milton Crenchaw]" interview at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131204121846/http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/legacy_of_fame/tuskegee_airmen.aspx Tuskegee Airmen] at Tuskegee University
[http://tuskegeeairmen.org/ Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.]
[http://www.nps.gov/tuai/index.htm Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site] (U.S. National Park Service)
[http://www.tuskegeeairmennationalmuseum.org/ Tuskegee Airmen National Museum]