March 2, 2009

Pulaski County native Milton Pitts Crenchaw, shown here in this 2007 photo, was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen from Arkansas. Crenchaw was also one of the first African Americans in the United States, and the first from Arkansas, to be trained by the federal government as a civilian licensed pilot. During his career, he trained hundreds of cadet pilots and was instrumental in starting the first successful flight training program at Philander Smith College.