Oakland aviation museum honors Black history

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — An Oakland aviation museum that’s open year-round honors the countless contributions of African Americans to aeronautics and historic flights.

Before you reach Bessie Coleman Drive — a stretch of roadway leading up to Oakland International Airport named after the first African American woman aviator — you will unassumingly pass the hangars along Earhart Toad. Tucked among them is the Oakland Aviation Museum.

It’s a historical treasure Conway Jones Junior makes a point to visit at least once a month.
He stops by for a casual stroll down memory lane with the museum’s current leadership and guides the occasional tour of the organization he founded some 40 years ago.

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Recently, KRON4 was fortunate to be his guests.

“Blacks — coloreds in this country have made contributions to America since the Blacks that served in the Civil War,” Jones said.

Jones, a retired United States Air Force colonel, shared a few stories about the decorated Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American fighter pilots and crew in the United States Army Air Corps who helped secure an allied victory in World War II.

The group was famously known for flying “Red Tail” fighter-bombers. A replica of one is featured in the museum.

“Only 17 bomber crews were lost while the Tuskegee Airmen were flying cover during the entire course of World War II,” Jones said. “And, that’s against the backdrop where over 8,000 bomber crews were lost.”

Leading into the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit a simulated video plays of the highflying aerobatics associated with the heralded group of high-flyers. Jones says this was the first room set up when the museum moved to its current location.

“Roscoe Brown shot down one of the first German jets,” Jones said.

The Red Tails mean the world to Jones.

“This is the replica of the Tuskegee Airmen Congressional gold medal,” he said.

He grew up around them while his dad served for the U.S. Army in Tuskegee, Alabama.

“The colored airmen brought to the military service, the army air corps, to our country, a set of values,” Jones said.

Jones also pays homage to Bessie Coleman — the first African American woman to hold a pilot license.

“No one would teach her to fly planes here. So, she had to go to France to get her pilot training and came back,” Jones said.

The Oakland museum not only tells stories of the past, but also looks ahead to the future and how Black aviation has evolved.

“Fast-forwarding to Victor Glover who is a Black astronaut,” said Jones. “He and three others — his four-man crew — will be flying the NASA Artemis II around the moon in November.”

For Jones, history sets the path forward and provides context in navigation. It provides guidance through breaking barriers and building bridges for those following behind.

“When I took office, I took an oath of office to protect and serve the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” said Jones. “I think we still need to be about that as a people — Blacks in particular — to serve our country, because our country has served us.”

The museum is a hidden gem, and it is affordable for families to attend. It’s open every Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

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