Oscar Wayman Holmes (31 January 1916, Dunbar, West Virginia – 5 November 2001, Mitchellville, Maryland) was a trailblazing Naval Aviator in World War II and civilian flight controller, the first African American in each position. Biography Holmes graduated from Garnet High School in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1932, West Virginia State College in 1936 with a B.S. and Ohio State University the following year with a master's degree in chemistry. He taught chemistry (a subject he did not like) for three years at Claflin College, a historically black school in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In 1940, he went to work for the Erie Lighting Company in Erie, Pennsylvania, as a chemical analyst. Wanting to become a pilot, he won a scholarship and enrolled in the US government's Civilian Pilot Training Program. He obtained his private pilot's license by 1941. Later that year, he applied to become an air traffic controller for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, a position that required a pilot's license and a college degree. The application and his acceptance were both handled by telegram. After training, he was assigned to the New York traffic control center, becoming the first African-American traffic controller. He was very light skinned, and his superiors were unaware he was not white until he had to fill out a questionnaire. He did well, and Robert L. Johnston, the chief controller at the center, told Holmes he had recommended him for promotion. However, it never came. Holmes thought for 15 years that Johnston had lied to him, but in 1957 learned that higher ups had rejected him. In August 1942, with the United States now in World War II, Holmes read in The New York Times that the United States Navy was offering reserve commissions to those with a pilot's license and 125 hours of flying time to become flight instructors or deliver aircraft. Despite admitting that he only had 90 hours in the air, he was accepted. He was sworn in on 28 September, with his commission dated 14 September. The Navy was, at that time, still segregated – African Americans were only accepted as steward's mates, not as officers – but once again the authorities assumed he was white. Holmes later admitted he knew about the Navy's policy, "but they didn't ask me and I didn't tell them". By the time his superiors discovered their mistake, it would have been embarrassing to admit it,