U.L. Rip Gooch

U.L. Rip Gooch is a pilot with 20,000 flight hours, a retired FAA pilot examiner, retired Kansas state senator, and one of the few African Americans to serve on the city council of Wichita, Kansas, among other careers. He is a member of the Black Aviation Hall of Fame, and currently resides in Wichita.

"I was born on a large Tennessee farm in 1923, the grandson of freed slaves and the son of field hands," Rip says. "As a black man aging over nine decades, I have observed life from a number of vantages - from last-class citizen in a nation blanketed in racial bigotry to respected member of society in a nation still filled with racial tension.

"My autobiography chronicles how I confronted those economics and cultural barriers to rise from being a poor orphan to become an aircraft pilot, the owner of a million-dollar business selling Mooney Aircraft, and later a politician."

Rip celebrated his 90th birthday in September 2013 with several hundred guests at Wichita's Orpheum Theater. A few days before his birthday, Rip was certified to keep his pilot's license.

He currently assists daughter Bonita Gooch in running The Community Voice, Wichita's African-American newspaper. He is also contributing research to a biography of his mentor "Chief" C. Alfred Anderson, who trained the Tuskegee Airmen.