On Tuesday, October 9th, 2012 Tanya Hart and her husband Dr. Phil Hart received honors from the Los Angeles City Council in memory of Aviator James Banning. Los Angeles Councilmember Tom LaBonge is pictured with Dr. Phil Hart and Tanya on this historic occasion.
The Hart’s received an exquisite plaque from The Los Angeles City Council to mark the 80th anniversary of Banning’s historic transcontinental flight from Los Angeles to New York. James Banning was the first Black aviator to make the trip. Dr. Hart is a member of Banning’s family tree. James Banning is Phil Hart’s great-uncle.
Philip S. Hart, Ph.D. – “The Los Angeles City Council honored my mother’s uncle James Herman Banning. Banning and his mechanic, Thomas C. Allen, were the first black pilots to fly coast to coast from LA to Long Island, New York in 1932. They landed at Valley Stream airport in Long Island on October 9. 1932. Thus the LA City Council honored Banning and Allen exactly 80 years to the day that they landed in New York.”
Banning and his mechanic Thomas C. Allen is said to have called themselves the “Flying Hobos” because they had to raise financial backing for their trips as they flew across the country.
Phil honors the history of aviation in his family by authoring three award-winning books for young readers that tell the stories of America’s first black aviators available through Lerner Books.
Tanya and Phil Hart are also co-producers of Flyers in Search of a Dream, which documents the lives and adventures of early African American Aviators; from Bessie Coleman, the first African American to earn an aviator license, to James Herman Banning, the first African American to complete a transcontinental flight.
Tanya Hart reports entertainment news daily on American Urban Radio Networks, AURN and is the Host of “Hollywood Live with Tanya Hart,” a syndicated radio program broadcast over 500 stations with an estimated 20 million listeners each week.