World War II Honoree

Milton Pitts Crenchaw

Hometown

Little Rock, Arkansas

Honored By

Charles Henry Atkinson

In 1939, he was the first Arkansan to arrive at Moton Airbase in Tuskegee, Alabama. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, He entered the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), sponsored by the Army Air Corps, to become a flight instructor. He received partial training and physical examinations at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, before returning to Tuskegee for another phase of primary instruction and advance courses in aviation piloting. He graduated with his civilian pilot license and then commercial pilot certificate on August 11, 1941. He became a primary civilian flight instructor and eventually one of the two original supervising squadron commanders under Chief Pilot Charles A. Anderson. He was one of the first instructors for the first group of student pilot trainees between 1941 and 1946.