Science & invention / Civil rights & activism
Neal Vernon Loving
1916–1998 · aviator, aircraft designer, aeronautical engineer
Detroit aviator and designer, the first African American and the first double amputee licensed as a racing pilot, who co-founded Michigan's first Black-owned aircraft company.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
- Also known as
- Neal Loving
- Detroit years
- 1916–1961
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Loving was born in Detroit in 1916, the son of the first Black optometrist in Michigan, and fell for aviation at ten when a biplane flew over his house. He studied aeronautics at Cass Technical High School, became a licensed aircraft mechanic, and built a ground trainer that was displayed at Detroit City Airport. Turned away by the Air Cadet Corps and the Cass Aero Club because of his race, he joined the Black aviators of the Ace Flying Club and with Earsly Taylor founded the Wayne Aircraft Company, the first Black-owned aircraft company in Michigan, and an all-Black Civil Air Patrol squadron. In 1944 a glider crash at Wings Airport in Utica cost him both legs below the knee, yet by 1946 he was flying again. He and Taylor opened the Wayne School of Aeronautics in 1947, and his racer Loving's Love took part in the 1951 National Air Races. He studied aeronautical engineering at Wayne State from 1955 and then worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Highlights
- First African American and first double amputee licensed as a racing pilot (1951)
- Co-founded Wayne Aircraft Company, Michigan's first Black-owned aircraft firm
- Designed and flew five aircraft, including the racer Loving's Love
- Co-founded the Wayne School of Aeronautics, 1947
- Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame; Wayne State College of Engineering Hall of Fame
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1930s
Cass Technical High School
Demolished · 1922–2005
He studied aeronautics at Cass Tech. The 1922 building he attended stood beside today's school on Grand River Avenue; it closed in 2005 and was demolished in 2010–2011.
Related place · 1930s
Coleman A. Young International Airport
Detroit's city airport, where the ground trainer he built as a young mechanic was put on display.
Studied here · 1955–1961
Wayne State University
He enrolled here as an aeronautical engineering student in 1955; the College of Engineering later inducted him into its Hall of Fame.