Boxer, grunt, flyboy: the wild life of the first Black American combat pilot

If there were ever a candidate for a real-life ‘most interesting man in the world,’ it would be Eugene Jacques Bullard. 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. 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.

But despite Bullard’s many accomplishments, his story remains little known in the United States. It’s unclear exactly why, but the racism he encountered in his home country throughout his life may have played a role. 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. 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.

https://taskandpurpose.com/history/eugene-jacques-bullard-black-pilot/