National Museum of African American History and Culture
Lobby card for The Flying Ace
Norman Studios, American, 1920 - 1928 · 1926
In this 1926 film, black fighter pilot Captain Billy Stokes, played by Laurence Criner, returns home from World War I a hero and resumes his civilian career as a railroad detective. The role of pilot Ruth Sawtelle, played by Kathryn Boyd, is inspired by aviator Bessie Coleman. Coleman had been in talks with race film studio Norman Productions to star in a film about her life when she was killed during a flight in Jacksonville, Florida.
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