He claims that two major influences on his passion for flying were the book The Life of an Army Corps Cadet: Randolph field, west Point of the Air, and a 1938 movie called The Dawn Patrol.

After gaining weight to reach the 128.75 pound threshold he was accepted to the Tuskegee Institute for flight training.

[2] While he had experienced some racial discrimination in Minnesota, Brown was upset by having to abide by Jim Crow segregation practices when off-base in Alabama.

[5][9] His flight path took him over anti-aircraft emplacements, where he crashed after shrapnel from a destroyed German cargo train hit his plane.

[11] Following his retirement from the military, Brown earned a doctorate degree and became vice-president of academic affairs at Columbus State Community College.

[8] Brown and his wife wrote Keep Your Airspeed Up: The Story of a Tuskegee Airman, a memoir about his World War II service, and published it in 2017.