Remembering 2024’s Losses: David E. Harris

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This is another one of those losses that we had in 2024 that probably slipped under your radar. In fact, it may have been overlooked by most people. I’ll tell you why this one stuck with me, and why this gentleman’s death is one of the 31 I chose to highlight as I look back on 2024. David E. Harris The reason this one stuck out to me was my tenure at a fleet logistics support squadron in Norfolk. When I arrived there in 1981, there was an ensign by the name of Brenda Robinson in the squadron. While in her time at VRC-40 she became the first black female to qualify for carrier landings in the entire United States Navy. David Harris was another historic first: he was the first African-American pilot hired by a commercial airline in America. Later honored for this achievement, he remarked that there had been over 500 pilots in the Tuskegee Airmen (remember when I went there last year?) during World War II, and there was no way that he, in 1964, should have been the first black commercial airline pilot. But that was segregation for you. Harris was ready to be rejected, in fact, when he got an interview with American Airlines upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1964. To his relief, he was told, “We don’t care if you’re black, white, or chartreuse, all we want to know is can you fly the plane.” Oh, he could fly the plane, all right. He’d done that in the Air Force, including B-47s and B-52s. And so, he did, flying for 30 years, taking people who probably hated him for the color of his sky across the “friendly skies” (yes, I know that’s United’s motto, not American’s). I was surprised to see that Harris is not in the Aviation Hall of Fame. He is featured in American Airlines’ museum in Texas. Thanks, Captain Harris, and salute. David E. Harris Born David Ellsworth Harris, December 22, 1934, Columbus, Ohio Died March 8, 2024, Marietta, Georgia (natural causes) (age 89) An interview from the American Airlines YouTube page with Captain Harris: