Ashby was an OBAP Founders and Pioneers Hall of Fame inductee.
Bob Ashby was the first black pilot to retire from a commercial airline.
Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals
The Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) announced that Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert âBobâ Ashby a longtime OBAP member and champion had flown west on March 5, 2021. He was 95 years old. His obituary said Ashby was enamored with airplanes at a young age and enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1944 rather than waiting to be drafted. He tested into the Tuskegee Institute for flight training. After World War II, he also flew bombers during the Korean conflict.
Robert Ashby, One of Three Last Surviving Tuskegee Airmen in Arizona, Dies at 95
One of the last three surviving Arizona members of the historical Tuskegee Airmen has died at age 95.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Ashby died at home in Sun City, Phoenix, on Friday, March 5, according to a news release from the Archer-Ragsdale Chapter of the famous all-Black fighter pilots who never lost a bomber.
Born in Yemassee, South Carolina, in 1926, Ashby enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program at just 17 and was sent to active duty in August 1944. He faced discrimination in the Air Force when he was assigned to Japan, ejected by two white flying units and stripped of his pilot status.
PHOENIX One of three surviving members in Arizona of the famed all-Black Tuskegee Airmen has died. The Archer-Ragsdale Chapter Tuskegee Airmen confirmed in a news release that Robert Ashby died Friday at his home in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City. He was 95. Born in 1926 in Yemassee, South Carolina, Ashby enlisted at […]
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