The Rip Gooch Black Aviators exhibit opened last month inside the Kansas Aviation Museum. Visitors can learn about the exploits of Wichita's Black pilots, but also other pioneers, including those who directed aircraft from the ground. Harold Miller was the first Black air traffic controller at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport in the 1970s. Miller's information is currently being updated to add to the collection.
During an event, Miller smiles as Ben Sauceda, the executive director of the Kansas Aviation Museum, as he points to an old plaque of his accomplishments. The only problem? The award doesn't tell the full story.
"We're working to update information so that way we tell the story as accurately as you would like. ...This is just a little bit, we're going do a complete change up of how it's presented," Sauceda says.
The effort to highlight Black people's contributions to flight started years ago initiated by of the exhibit's namesake, aviation legend Rip Gooch.
"Rip got together with all the guys that were involved in aviation and he wanted to set up a room, he wanted everybody to know what Blacks were doing in Aviation because it wasn't well known," says Miller. "I was a controller for 20 years and two months. I retired at the age of 53. I mean, you could do it at 55. So, I did retire and it was a great experience for me. I never tried anything like [being an air traffic controller]. And so I had to go through some hoops to get in that, and I did that.
According to Miller, being an air traffic controller was intriguing among other things.
"...and it was stressful. I'm not going to tell you it wasn't stressful because at that academy they told us that we would teach you in nine weeks what college would take four years for you to learn."
And after the academy, Miller remembers returning to Wichita.
"I learned one thing right away ... there was nobody like me," Miller says. "There had never been anybody like me that actively controlled aircraft at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport."
There were no other Black people employed. And the chief supervisor, Miller says, wasn't interested.
"He just plain didn't want me to be there. So, he tried to discourage me, but I wouldn't be discouraged."
In an initial meeting, the deputy chief talked to Miller while looking down and writing a report.
"...and he said, 'We expect you to come in being neat because this is a professional organization.' And I said, 'That's fine. I don't have any problem with that.' But when he finally looked up and he saw me, he just stopped me. He said, 'Do you dress like this all the time?'
Miller said, "'Yes, I do.' Suits and ties were the norm, black pants, and black tie. And we had to wear those things because that was expected of you."
Miller went to work well-dressed from head to toe — fitting within the dress code.
"It began to evolve a little bit and so when I went there, the guys were surprised with how I dressed."
Miller also heard some of the talk regarding his arrival, "Well this guy is coming but he is not going to be given anything.
"I told them, I said, 'I don't expect you to give me anything but the opportunity to learn and do this job. Now, I want you to teach me everything that you are supposed to teach me, and I want you to know something else, I will learn most of the things you don't want me to know, and you won't even know that I'm doing that.' So, that's the way that I looked at it and I earned their respect because they saw me working to get the job done and I got it done."
Day in an day out, Miller continued to put the hard work in. He says his wife and family kept him going.
"I understood that being an air traffic controller was, if not the top most stressful job, it was next to it and I found that to be true ... in the training.
"As I learned how to do the job and be more comfortable with it, I learned how to leave things behind if I had any problems outside of the job and if I had any problems inside the job, I would leave that there."
Over the years, Miller says he was able to move up the ranks.
"I was told that I was the first African American to actively control airports here at the Wichita control tower. ...Eight years later, I advanced to supervisor and I was the first African American in the central region to be a supervisor in the terminal option and that covered Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa ... it was a good feeling.
And before retiring, he also recruited more people of color.
"I think it was like eight — two women and six other guys. ...Two of them ... didn't make it, but the two women did great and the other four guys did great and they advanced."
Miller looks around the new Black Aviators exhibit with pride. He's honored that his contributions to aviation will be updated and placed alongside the others. He says the new exhibit means a lot.
"It shows where we have come from and where we are going," Miller says. "When you're given that opportunity, you take advantage of it and you do it. That makes me feel good. I never forget what James Brown, the singer, said: 'Open the door, and I'll get it myself. All I want is an opportunity, and that works.'"
