William Holloman, groundbreaking Army helicopter pilot, dies at 85

RENTON, Wash. - A man from Washington state who became the Army's first black helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War has died.

William H. Holloman, a Tuskegee airman in World War II who also served in Vietnam, was 85.

The Tuskegee Airmen association said Thursday that Holloman died June 11 in Renton after suffering a heart attack. He was a St. Louis native who lived in Kent.

As an 18-year-old, Holloman entered the Army Air Corps and trained with the all-black program at the Tuskegee, Ala., Army Flying School.

Holloman graduated in 1944, and flew a P-51 Mustang as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group in Italy in 1944 and 1945.

Holloman went to airborne electronics school after the war and later became the Air Force's first black helicopter pilot, trained helicopter pilots in Greenland, was an instrument examiner and check pilot during Vietnam and achieved designation as master aviator, with more than 17,000 military flying hours, according to Harold Rubin, public programs coordinator at the Museum of Flight.

"As a Tuskegee Airman he participated in the early era of integration of the armed forces and saw a lot of discrimination, overcame a lot of discrimination," Rubin said. "But he was a true patriot and wanted to serve his country."

With AP and Seattle Post-Intelligencer