Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine Article

The First Black Airmen to Fly Across America

"On an early June night at Woodlands High School in Hartsdale, New York, the cafeteria is jammed. A noisy crowd of at least 200 has shown up. They’re here to see a play called [The Flying Hobos]."

Marc Wortman, February 2018

ISU Engineering Dept. Ames, IA Article

“Freedom in the air meant freedom on the ground:” Pioneer aviator James Banning’s story presented in AerE production

"The Flying Hobos made a safe, and very happy, landing in the Alliant Energy Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall February 9 – and took a delighted audience back to 1932 in an interactive dramatic production saluting pioneer aviator James H. Banning and his co-pilot Thomas Cox Allen, who became the first African Americans to fly across the United States."

John Burnett-Larkins, February 13, 2018

OKlahoma Magazine Article

A First in Flight

"In the early 1930s, no one would sponsor Guthrie native James Herman Banning in his quest to be America’s first black aviator to fly coast to coast. No one would lend him a plane. No one would allow him into flight school due to his race."

Tracy LeGrand, January 20, 2017