[1] Dreaming from boyhood of being a pilot, he eventually learned to fly from an Army aviator after being repeatedly turned away from flight schools due to racial discrimination.

[2] The "Flying Hoboes," as they were affectionately known,[1] made the 3,300-mile (5,300 km) trip from Los Angeles to Long Island, New York, in 41 hours and 27 minutes aloft.

Only four months after his historic flight, Banning was killed in a plane crash during an air show at Camp Kearny military base in San Diego on February 5, 1933.

He was a passenger in a two-seater Travel Air biplane flown by Navy machinist's mate second class Albert Burghardt, who was at the controls because Banning had been refused use of the airplane by an instructor at the Airtech Flying School.

Provided underneath his photo is a plaque with a brief summary of his achievements and accomplishments as a tribute to the Wings of Fame, a hallway where guests wait during the line queue to the actual ride where many photographs and models of early plane concepts are displayed, including homages to significant individuals in aviation history, including Banning on the right side.