Pittsburgh’s Charles Wesley Peters Flew into History

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series honoring aviation pioneers during Black History Month.

Pittsburgh’s own Charles Wesley Peters was a triple threat: He is widely regarded as the first Black man to design, build and fly an airplane.

Peters was born in Virginia in 1889, and his family then moved to North Carolina before ending up in Pittsburgh when he was about 4-years-old.

As a teenager, he was fascinated by stories of flying and enjoyed kites, gliders and other devices. At this time, he was also working in an auto repair shop, which gave him the knowledge to start building engines for his flying machines.

His first flight came when he was 17 in a glider that he built. Heading to the city’s Herron Hill, he took off and glided about the length of a football field.

This inspired him to begin work on an engine-driven flying machine. Using his knowledge from the auto repair shop, he attached an air-cooled automobile engine to his flying machine, which had a 40-foot wingspan.

A newspaper excerpt of Charles Wesley Peters after flying his first public exhibition in Macon, Ga., in 1911. (Courtesy of Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center)

His first successful flight occurred in 1910, seven years after the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk. This flight marked the first known motorized air flight by a Black man, earning Peters the title of the first African American pilot.

His flights usually lasted about 12 minutes, and he supported this hobby by charging bystanders to see his plane up close. It has been reported that he made 10 flights before his plane was destroyed in a fire.

Peters’ accomplishments came to the attention of R.R. Wright, the organizer of the Georgia State Colored Fair held each fall in Macon. For the 1911 fair, Wright added an Aviation Day and heavily promoted an appearance by Peters. The promotion included an advertisement in the Atlanta Independent, an African-American newspaper, proclaiming: “For the First Time in the History of Fairs a Colored Man Goes Up in an Air Ship—Everybody Should See It.”

Another newspaper also heralded his appearance. The Atlanta Journal ran an article that said, “Probably the most attractive feature of the fair will be Wesley Peters, the negro aviator. Peters is from Pittsburgh, Pa., and will make several flights in an airship which he built himself. He has the distinction of being the only member of his race to conquer the air.”

With a newly built plane, Peters headed to Georgia, but it is unclear if he flew. The Pittsburgh Courier reported that he did. However, George Edward Barbour, the author of “Early Black Flyers of Western Pennsylvania, 1906-1945,” wrote that there was a disagreement over money – Peters felt he was worth more than he contracted to receive – and he was replaced with a white pilot.

That was one of the last records of Peters as a pilot. He enlisted in the Army in 1915 and served with the famous segregated unit called the Buffalo Soldiers (10th Calvary).

Not much is known after he left the Army in 1920 and moved to Washington, Pa. Peters died in Philadelphia in 1958.