But Bullard was the first Black American military pilot, which makes it all the more interesting that he could not fly for his own country. Other Black aviators preceding him flew for the United Kingdom, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and even for France in that same conflict. It paid off, and by May 1917 he was a pilot with the Lafayette Flying Corps, a group of American pilots flying for the French during World War I.īullard was not the first Black military pilot in history.
While recovering, Bullard bet a friend $2,000 that he could enlist in the Aéronautique Militaire, the French flying service, according to the Smithsonian.
The Bullard home itself was a troubled one, according to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, so in 1906, the 11-year-old Eugene ran away from home, joined a group of gypsies and worked as a stable boy before eventually stowing away aboard a freighter bound for Scotland in 1912. Born in Columbus, Georgia, on October 9, 1895, Bullard came face-to-face with that racism early on when his father was nearly killed by a lynch mob, according to the Public Broadcasting Service. It’s unclear exactly why, but the racism he encountered in his home country throughout his life may have played a role. He went on to fight in two world wars, brushed elbows with some of the most famous artists of the early twentieth century become a French national hero and, on a bet, become one of the world’s first black combat pilots.īut despite Bullard’s many accomplishments, his story remains little known in the United States.
#Black fighter pilot how to
The son of a former slave, Bullard ran away from home in Georgia and moved to Europe at an age before most learn how to drive. If there were ever a candidate for a real-life ‘ most interesting man in the world,’ it would be Eugene Jacques Bullard.
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