Oscar Holmes

Oscar Wayman Holmes (31 January 1916 – 5 November 2001) was an American 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 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".