The fall of Saigon

Dutch photographer Hubert van Es captured a Bell 205D helicopter operated by Air America evacuating people from the roof of the Pittman Apartments at 22 Gia Long Street in Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam. Although often described as the “evacuation of the U.S. Embassy,” the actual embassy was a larger building located several blocks away. This building housed U.S. government employees. Meanwhile, 10,000 South Vietnamese waited at the embassy gates, hoping to make it onto a helicopter. From April 29 to April 30, helicopters landed at 10-minute intervals in the embassy, including on the embassy roof. Some pilots flew for 19 hours straight, evacuating more than 7,000 people, including 5,500 Vietnamese. Air America was a passenger and cargo airline established in 1946 and covertly owned and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency from 1950 to 1976.

First Look

Pioneer pilot still inspires

From Mattel to the U.S. Mint, Bessie Coleman remains an icon

“We must have aviators if we are to keep up with the times,” said pioneering pilot Bessie Coleman, and she certainly led by example. A century later she is still inspiring pilots around the world, and some of the latest in her line of honors come from unusual places.

When discrimination in the United States kept Coleman from attending flight school, she learned to speak French, went to France for training, and earned her license in 1921, becoming the first African American and Native American woman pilot, and the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license.

As of January 2023, Coleman and her Curtiss Jenny are now featured on a new quarter design released by the U.S. Mint, the sixth coin in the American Women Quarters Program; a four-year program which “celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women of the United States.” Also in January, Mattel unveiled a Bessie Coleman doll as part of its Barbie Signature Inspiring Women series, which highlights role-model historical women, including astronaut Sally Ride, anthropologist Jane Goodall, medical pioneer Florence Nightingale, journalist Ida Wells, and more. The Bessie Coleman doll displays the traditional olive-green aviator suit, and the cap with wings and initials as pictured in her iconic photograph—ready to inspire the next generation of children with dreams of flight. emma.quedzuweit@aopa.org