Robert Ashby

Robert Ashby (July 17, 1926 – March 5, 2021) was a U.S. Army Air Force/U.S. Air Force officer and pilot with the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group – Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.

Hired by Frontier Airlines in 1973, Ashby became one of the first few African Americans to work as a commercial airline pilot for a major commercial airline. During his new-hire training class at Frontier, Ashby trained with Emily Howell Warner, the first female ever to be promoted to airline captain at a major commercial airline.

Military service At age 17, Ashby enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps's Aviation Cadet program. In August 1944, the U.S. Army stationed Ashby at Keesler Field in Mississippi for both basic training and entrance testing for the Aviation Cadet Program. In December 1944, the U.S. Army transferred Ashby to Tuskegee, Alabama for cadet pilot training on the Stearman PT-17, AT-6, and the B-25.

During his new hire onboarding training at Frontier, Ashby trained with Emily Howell Warner, the first female commercial airline Pilot Captain of a major commercial airline. While at Frontier, Ashby flew the Twin Otter, Convair 580, Boeing 737 and MD-80.

In 1986, Ashby retired from Frontier Airlines with the rank of Captain. He is considered the first African American commercial airline pilot for major commercial airlines to reach the mandatory retirement age of 60. He was the only known member of the Tuskegee Airmen to work as a commercial airline Pilot Captain with a major airlines.

Death Ashby died on March 5, 2021, in Sun City, Arizona, aged 95. He was cremated. Ashby was one of three last-surviving Tuskegee Airmen living in the U.S. state of Arizona.