BOOKER CONLEY (1923-2019)
Booker Conley was military veteran, pilot, family man, and a cornerstone of the community in Tuskegee, Alabama.
He was pivotal figure in the family’s aviation legacy, playing multiple roles as an architect of airplane hangars and a combat pilot. His commitment to his branch of the Conley Family was extraordinary, and his impact echoes through the generations.
Booker Conley, far left, with his Conley Cousins at Tuskegee University, during World War II.
EARLY YEARS
Conley was born on Jan. 8, 1923, in Sumter County, Ala. A descendant of James Conley, Booker was The youngest of six, living in rural Alabama with his siblings and parents. Tragedy struck, when Booker was a mere five (5) years old, as both of his parents died of consumption (now known as Tuberculosis or TB). Booker and his siblings were moved to Birmingham, Alabama to live with their maternal grandmother, Fannie Pettigrew High. From elementary school through high school, Conley lived with his aunt and uncle, Bernard and Mary Glenn. Throughout an unstable childhood in the midst of the Great Depression, his brother Coleman remained Booker’s constant companion.
Tuskegee Airmen in 1943, shortly before deployment to Italy.
CoLLEGE YEARS 1940-1944
Booker’s older brother had enrolled in Tuskegee University’s aviation program, joining the war effort. He was training to be a fighter pilot. In September of 1940 at the age of 17, Conley arrived at Tuskegee University with plans to major in architecture. During that time, a recent graduate from U.S. Military Academy at West Point by the name of Lt. Benjamin O. Davis was the professor of Military Science and Tactics and served as the head of the junior unit of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, or ROTC.
Upon his arrival, the Civilian Pilot Training Program was established, with training taking place at Kennedy Field on Union Springs Highway in Tuskegee. Conley entered the program and his pilot instructor was track star Archie Williams from UCLA in California. Conley learned to fly a plane before he learned to drive a car.
After the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, Conley was chosen as one of 35 to enlist in the first class of the reserve unit in 1942. As a member of Tuskegee university’s first ROTC class his pilot’s training would be put on hold. Conley was called to active duty on June 9, 1943 before completing the ROTC program. He was deployed overseas in November 1944.