Vance Hunter Marchbanks
Vance Hunter Marchbanks, Jr. was an influential African American physician and military surgeon, born into a family with a strong military legacy. His father served in one of the first all-African American regiments in the U.S. Army, which inspired Marchbanks to pursue a military and medical career. After graduating from high school in 1923, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona and later graduated from Howard University’s College of Medicine in 1937. Marchbanks faced racial segregation during his education, being barred from dormitories and dining with peers.
His military service began with the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he played a vital role as a flight surgeon with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, earning accolades such as the Bronze Star. Marchbanks made significant contributions to aviation medicine, publishing research on pilot health and developing measures to assess flight crew performance. He also served as a support physician for NASA’s Project Mercury and monitored astronaut John Glenn during his historic flight. Marchbanks's work not only advanced medical practices but also helped challenge racial stereotypes, leading to policy changes that allowed more African American men to serve in military aviation roles. He passed away on October 21, 1988, leaving behind a legacy of perseverance and innovation in aviation medicine.
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Subject Terms
Vance Hunter Marchbanks
Physician, scientist, and military leader
- Born: January 12, 1905
- Birthplace: Fort Washikie, Wyoming
- Died: October 21, 1973
- Place of death: Hartford, Connecticut
As one of the first African American military flight surgeons, Marchbanks performed pioneering medical research on the physical effects of air travel and combat. This research led him to develop new protocols and devices for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force.
Early Life
Vance Hunter Marchbanks, Jr., was the second child born to Vance Hunter Marchbanks, Sr., and Callie Hatton on the military base where his father was stationed. As a sergeant in the Tenth Calvary, the elder Marchbanks was a member of one of the first all-African American regiments in the U.S. Army. This proud military upbringing inspired Marchbanks to follow in his father’s footsteps. The family traveled frequently, and Marchbanks attended several schools before graduating from high school at Tennessee State Normal School in Nashville in 1923.
Marchbanks received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Arizona in 1933. During college, he took the entrance examination for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was rejected twice. He also was forbidden from living in the dormitories or eating with other students because of racial segregation.
Marchbanks graduated from Howard University’s College of Medicine in 1937. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Life’s Work
In 1939, Marchbanks accepted a medical staff position at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. Marchbanks also enlisted in the U.S. Army Medical Corps Reserves as a first lieutenant but was denied active duty because of limited training facilities for African American men. In 1941, he succeeded in achieving active duty and moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to serve as a surgeon at the station hospital. Marchbanks then learned of plans for the creation of a segregated Army Air Corps Flying School and completed a course through the School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas, in 1942.
After aviation schooling, Marchbanks was assigned to the station hospital at Tuskegee Army Air Field as an aviation medical examiner in 1943. During World War II, he served as flight surgeon of the 332d Fighter Group with the Tuskegee Airmen in Italy and earned a Bronze Star and the rank of major. He was transferred to the Department of the Air Force in 1949 and served as a senior surgeon for three combat missions during the Korean War. From 1954 to 1956, Marchbanks served as the deputy commander and chief of Air Force Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, the largest air force hospital in the Far East. In 1955, he was promoted to colonel. Marchbanks earned the rare title of chief flight surgeon after fifteen hundred documented flying hours and fifteen years of service.
Marchbanks was a pioneer in aviation medicine research. During his time in the military, he published studies on pilot reactions to noise, speed, and altitude and developed measures such as stress tests to assess flight crews during combat. He additionally researched crew comfort and fatigue during flights, the findings of which demonstrated that adrenaline levels indicate physical fatigue and may predict plane crashes. This groundbreaking discovery earned Marchbanks the Air Force Commendation Medal. He also was awarded a medal for inventing an oxygen mask tester. In addition, Marchbanks was instrumental in research that demonstrated that African Americans and people of Mediterranean descent with sickle cell trait had no special medical problems related to exertion and high altitudes.
In 1960, Marchbanks served as a support physician for Project Mercury through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force, and in 1962 he was one of eleven specialists who monitored astronaut John Glenn’s vital signs during his historic first orbital flight. After retiring from the military in 1964 he served as the chief of environmental health services for Hamilton Standard (1964-1986). He assisted NASA and Hamilton Standard in the creation of a moon suit and other space equipment.
Marchbanks met and married Lois Gilkey after medical school. The couple had two daughters, Roslyn Jeanne Robinson and Joy Marie Boddie. Marchbanks died on October 21, 1988, at age eighty-three.
Significance
Marchbanks’s determination throughout his medical schooling and military career to overcome racial segregation and discrimination led him to become one of the first physicians to specialize in aviation and aerospace medicine. In addition to his significant contributions to the military and NASA programs regarding pilot health, Marchbanks disproved a racial stereotype by publishing the first literature that demonstrated healthy sickle cell carriers performed the same as noncarriers in a combat environment. The findings were groundbreaking and persuaded the U.S. Air Force to change its admittance policy. As a result, many more African American men were permitted to serve their country in this capacity.
Bibliography
Gubert, Betty Kaplan, Miriam Sawyer, and Caroline M. Fannin. “Vance Hunter Marchbanks, Jr.” In Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science. Westport, Conn.: Oryx Press, 2001. Summarizes Marchbanks’s significant military assignments, contributions, and career in the U.S. Army and Air Force.
Jones, David R., Leroy P. Gross, and Roslyn Marchbanks-Robinson. United States Army Aeromedical Support to African American Fliers, 1941-1949: The Tuskegee Flight Surgeons. Brooks City-Base, Tex.: U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, 2007. Detailed report of the Tuskegee Airmen’s accomplishments during World War II. Includes a thorough biography of Marchbanks as a supplement.
Marchbanks, Vance Hunter. “The Black Physician and the USAF.” Journal of the National Medical Association 64, no. 1 (January, 1972): 73-74. This transcript of Marchbanks’s speech to the National Medical Association details his struggles as an African American physician in the military.
Scott, Roland B. “U.S. Air Force Revises Policy for Flying Personnel with Sickle Cell Trait.” Journal of the National Medical Association 74, no. 9 (September, 1982): 835-836. Describes the results of Marchbanks’s research that led to the Air Force allowing otherwise healthy sickle cell carriers to enlist.