August Martin, the first African American commercial airline pilot. He died on the night of 30th June 1968, when his plane, full of food and other relief materials crashed, while trying to land under heavy rainstorm at Uli airstrip during the Nigerian-Biafra war. His wife, Gladys Frank Martin (neé Riddle), also on the mercy flight, died with him.

They we’re married just about a year before they embarked on the race against time trip to contribute in saving the children of Biafra, whose level of malnutrition, kwashiorkor and skeletal bodies were brought to the living rooms of people around the world by television and cover pages of then Drum Magazine in the late 60s.

August Martin High School in South Jamaica, Queens, New York is named after him.  Photo credit: Seaboard Airlines