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Mac Ross
Mac Ross (June 12, 1912 – July 10, 1944) was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot during World War II. A member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron and served as the Group Operations Officer for the 332nd Fighter Group.
He was one of the first five African American combat fighter pilots in the United States military, and one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots. Being among the first five to graduate, they "drew the most sustained attention from the press and the black community as a result."
Mac Ross was born on June 12, 1912, in rural Dallas County near Selma, Alabama, he was the son of Eddie Samuel "Sam" Ross (1888–1964) and Willie B. Collins Ross (1888–1982). Sam and Willie married in 1911. Ross had eight siblings: Eddie, Sammy, Jerry Ross, Arthur Ross, Suritha, Geniva, Mattie M. Ross (1910–1943), and Willa.
Samuel had two sisters who lived in Dayton, Ohio who urged him for years to move north. In the late 1920s, he moved with his wife and nine children in part because he didn't want his sons to be raised in an environment where they could be lynched. He graduated from Roosevelt High School and then attended West Virginia State University, graduating in 1940 with a degree in mechanical arts. While at University he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He also worked at the iron works GHR Foundry in Dayton.
On June 3, 1943, Ross married Abbie Voorhies (born August 20, 1915), a U.S. Army lieutenant and member of the United States Army Nurse Corps from Alexandria, Louisiana. She was a night shift nurse at the Tuskgegee airfield where she met Mac, and as of 2019 at age 104 was the oldest living member of the Tuskegee unit.
Ross's alma mater, West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) had a Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) created by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) in 1939 to increase the number of active pilots in America in response to the ongoing war in Europe. It cost $15 a week to attended which was paid by Ross's father. Ross graduated. The college actively competed with Tuskegee and four other historically black colleges and universities to institute a commercial pilot's program for African American CPTP graduates. In the end, the federal government selected Tuskegee Institute as the official commercial pilot program for African Americans pilots. West Virginia State College and the other four historically black colleges and universities would serve as feeder schools.
West Virginia State College officials nominated two alumni for the program: Ross and George S. Roberts, a 1938 West Virginia State College graduate. Ross was admitted into the U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee Aviation Cadet training program's inaugural July 19, 1941 class at Tuskegee Army Air Field.
During cadet training, Ross's P-40 caught fire in mid-air and he safely parachuted out; he was concerned it would be called pilot error and provide grounds for critics that black's should not be flyers. He recalled thinking, "I've wrecked a ship worth thousands of dollars. Maybe they'll start saying Negroes can't fly". An investigation found it was mechanical, but Ross always felt he and the others were under intense scrutiny every time they flew. The incident made him the first ever African American member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. His flight instructor Col. C. I. Williams said, "Mac was a good pilot. It takes a special kind of individual to be a good fighter pilot. He was a pilot's pilot."
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Mac Ross
Mac Ross (June 12, 1912 – July 10, 1944) was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot during World War II. A member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron and served as the Group Operations Officer for the 332nd Fighter Group.
He was one of the first five African American combat fighter pilots in the United States military, and one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen pilots. Being among the first five to graduate, they "drew the most sustained attention from the press and the black community as a result."
Mac Ross was born on June 12, 1912, in rural Dallas County near Selma, Alabama, he was the son of Eddie Samuel "Sam" Ross (1888–1964) and Willie B. Collins Ross (1888–1982). Sam and Willie married in 1911. Ross had eight siblings: Eddie, Sammy, Jerry Ross, Arthur Ross, Suritha, Geniva, Mattie M. Ross (1910–1943), and Willa.
Samuel had two sisters who lived in Dayton, Ohio who urged him for years to move north. In the late 1920s, he moved with his wife and nine children in part because he didn't want his sons to be raised in an environment where they could be lynched. He graduated from Roosevelt High School and then attended West Virginia State University, graduating in 1940 with a degree in mechanical arts. While at University he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He also worked at the iron works GHR Foundry in Dayton.
On June 3, 1943, Ross married Abbie Voorhies (born August 20, 1915), a U.S. Army lieutenant and member of the United States Army Nurse Corps from Alexandria, Louisiana. She was a night shift nurse at the Tuskgegee airfield where she met Mac, and as of 2019 at age 104 was the oldest living member of the Tuskegee unit.
Ross's alma mater, West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) had a Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) created by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) in 1939 to increase the number of active pilots in America in response to the ongoing war in Europe. It cost $15 a week to attended which was paid by Ross's father. Ross graduated. The college actively competed with Tuskegee and four other historically black colleges and universities to institute a commercial pilot's program for African American CPTP graduates. In the end, the federal government selected Tuskegee Institute as the official commercial pilot program for African Americans pilots. West Virginia State College and the other four historically black colleges and universities would serve as feeder schools.
West Virginia State College officials nominated two alumni for the program: Ross and George S. Roberts, a 1938 West Virginia State College graduate. Ross was admitted into the U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee Aviation Cadet training program's inaugural July 19, 1941 class at Tuskegee Army Air Field.
During cadet training, Ross's P-40 caught fire in mid-air and he safely parachuted out; he was concerned it would be called pilot error and provide grounds for critics that black's should not be flyers. He recalled thinking, "I've wrecked a ship worth thousands of dollars. Maybe they'll start saying Negroes can't fly". An investigation found it was mechanical, but Ross always felt he and the others were under intense scrutiny every time they flew. The incident made him the first ever African American member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. His flight instructor Col. C. I. Williams said, "Mac was a good pilot. It takes a special kind of individual to be a good fighter pilot. He was a pilot's pilot."