1. Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was a Trinidad-born American aviation pioneer.
25 Facts About Hubert Julian
1. 2.
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1897.
3.
Hubert Julian's father, Henry, was a cocoa plantation manager in Toco.
4.
In 1921, Hubert Julian left Montreal for good and moved to Harlem.
5.
Hubert Julian had a tailor fashion for him a fake military uniform in order to push his new narrative.
6.
On 3 September 1922, Hubert Julian performed his first parachute jump at Curtiss Field on Long Island; the event was headlined with a flight by Bessie Coleman.
7.
Hubert Julian would make one more jump that year before teaming up with aviator Clarence Chamberlin who, in addition to teaching his new business partner how to truly handle an airplane, flew him up above Harlem where the Trinidadian parachuted several times, the most famous moment coming when he wore a crimson jumpsuit while playing "Runnin' Wild" on a saxophone.
8.
Hubert Julian parachuted over Harlem while playing a gold-plated saxophone in October 1923.
9.
An old seaplane was purchased and refitted for the proposed flight; Hubert Julian dubbed it the Ethiopia.
10.
Hubert Julian would try twice more to pilot a transatlantic flight before the 1920s came to end.
11.
Once it became clear that the forces of Fascist Italy would prevail, Hubert Julian left the country.
12.
Hubert Julian was entrusted with administering the prince's $800,000 estate as well as returning the body to Egypt for interment in the family mausoleum.
13.
The Amsterdam News claimed this venture by Hubert Julian was a fake, but later recanted with an apology.
14.
Hubert Julian spent his time stateside traveling with William Powell's Five Blackbirds, an all black flying troupe who performed in the Midwest and California as well as performing piloting services for paying customers like Father Divine.
15.
December 1939, Hubert Julian attempted to settle a lawsuit between Father Divine and one of his fallen Angels, Mrs Verinda Brown.
16.
Hubert Julian purported to own more than $800,000 worth of 25-year old whiskey.
17.
Hubert Julian embarked on a short-lived career as a film producer with the director Oscar Micheaux, helping to fund the distribution for two of Micheaux's films: Lying Lips and The Notorious Eleanor Lee.
18.
Hubert Julian was there for several months without seeing action, before departing back for the United States.
19.
When Hubert Julian learned, from Giuseppe Bellanca, what Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goring had been saying about peoples of color, the Black Eagle issued a challenge to the latter, offering the Nazi leader the chance to duel him in an aerial battle above the English Channel.
20.
Hubert Julian would serve less than a year, becoming an American citizen in the process, and earning an honorable discharge with the final rank of private first class.
21.
Hubert Julian defied the FBI when, after being asked to cease his dealings, Julian continued selling.
22.
Hubert Julian was detained by United Nations forces for questioning and was in the end jailed for four months before being released.
23.
Hubert Julian retired upon his return to the United States.
24.
Hubert Julian spent his retirement meeting the likes of Muhammad Ali and appearing on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show.
25.
Hubert Julian died in 1983 and was buried at Calverton National Cemetery in Suffolk County, New York.