so they did nothing. (In fact, he continued to work, eat and sleep alongside white officers, unlike other African-American servicemen, who were segregated.) He successfully completed flight instructor training at Colgate University, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Naval Air Station Glenview and Naval Air Station New Orleans, and was made a Naval Aviator on 30 June 1943. However, while his classmates became flight instructors, he was given a desk job in Manhattan, interviewing prospective cadets. In the fall of 1943, the Navy announced that all ensigns with a date of rank of 1 October or earlier would be promoted to lieutenant (j.g.). Holmes, however, had to pass a flight check before being promoted. Bored, he requested a transfer to become a flight instructor or aircraft delivery pilot. In April 1944, he was transferred to Naval Air Station Dallas, where he delivered T-6 Texan trainer aircraft. In June, he was assigned to Air Ferry Squadron 3 on Mare Island, California, where he flew different types of aircraft from factories to bases in the United States. After the end of the war, he returned to civilian life in 1946. He returned to work as a traffic controller at the New York center. He also attended Brooklyn Law School part-time and earned two degrees: an LL.B. in 1954 and a LL.M. in 1955. He passed the New York State bar and opened a part-time practice. However, he went to work at the Federal Aviation Administration, the successor to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and remained there until his retirement in 1973. Oscar Wayman Holmes died in Mitchellville, Maryland, on 5 November 2001. He and his wife Augusta Thomas Holmes had three or four children. References See also Jesse L. Brown (1926–1950), the second African-American Naval Aviator, the first knowingly accepted by the Navy as an African American 1916 births 2001 deaths Air traffic controllers United States Naval Aviators United States Navy pilots of World War II Federal Aviation Administration personnel Brooklyn Law School alumni West Virginia State University alumni Claflin University faculty People from Dunbar, West Virginia