abiolatv:

Ah, love!

A midair courtship: Tuskegee’s historic love story…

Tuskegee, Alabama (CNN) — Herbert Carter and Mildred Hemmons had no time for dating in the early months of 1942.

He was training to become a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first military program for African-American pilots.

She was the bold, daring woman who caught his eye. At 18, she’d become the first black woman in Alabama to earn a pilot’s license. She had hopes of becoming a military pilot, too.

Flying was intoxicating. It provided Herbert and Mildred a sense of freedom — to be themselves, to dream big. The in-your-face racism of the segregated South was gone, if only for a while. In the air, the sky was literally the limit… [more]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Herbert Carter, Mildred Hemmons courted during his Tuskegee cadet training
• She was the first female black pilot in Alabama
• He was among original 33 Tuskegee pilots, eventually rose to lieutenant colonel
• Married nearly 70 years, the two were known as Tuskegee’s “first couple”