Woody Fountain marks trailblazing career as Northwest Airlines' first Black pilot

MINNEAPOLIS — Looking back at his career, retired Northwest Airlines Captain Woody Fountain has a lot of good memories. He is a pilot who earned his wings and a place in the history books.

"I was not too happy that I had to reitre at the age of 60. I would've stayed longer," he said.

Fountain was the airline's first black pilot, hired back in 1969.

"It's kind of rewarding and it's a little frusting in another way that it took so long," he said.

His aspirations really took off back in college at Howard University. That's where he took his first flight with his professor Chuck Dryden, an original Tuskegee Airman.

"It was very enjoyable only because I knew I was in the air. And I said this is not really all that bad," Fountain said.

He also saw representation in another friend and role model back then: Black fighter pilot Ed Dwight. The history of black pilots actually goes back to the 1920s, when black pilots weren't even admitted into U.S. flying schools. 

"It's kind of a dream world now because there's no more discrimination, at least not so overt, as there was when I was coming up. It's so great to see the change in things," Fountain said.

With that change comes the invitation to learn more about Black aviation history at the Wings of the North Air Museum, and to keep that inclusivity growing.

"It just goes to show that regardless of your background, race or anything else, that aviation is open to everybody," museum director Bob Jasperson said.

The public has an opportunity to meet Fountain and learn more about Black aviation history from noon until 1:30 p.m. Saturday, at the museum at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie.