Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys
An A Cappella Book Women Aviators 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights Daring Missions and Record-Setting Journeys Karen Bush Gibson
CONTENTS Introduction 1 Part I Pioneers of Aviation 5 Baroness de Laroche Bird Woman 8 Harriet Quimby First Woman to Fly Across the English Channel 16 Bessie Coleman Queen Bess 25 Neta Snook The Woman Who Taught Amelia to Fly 32 Part II The Golden Age of Flight 41 Amelia Earhart The Most Famous Female Aviator in the World 46 Louise Thaden Women’s Air Derby Winner 55 Bobbi Trout From Service Station to Airfield 61 Elinor Smith The Flying Flapper of Freeport 67 Edna Gardner Whyte Nothing Could Stop Her from Flying 72 Katherine Cheung The First Licensed Asian American Woman Pilot 79 Beryl Markham African Bush Pilot Crosses Atlantic 84 Willa Brown Integrating the US Armed Forces 90
Part III Wartime and Military Flying 97 Jacqueline Cochran Women Pilots Can Make a Difference 103 Violet Cowden Determined WASP 111 Valentina Grizodubova The Soviet Amelia Earhart 118 Hanna Reitsch The World’s First Female Test Pilot 125 Part IV All Part of the Job 133 Pancho Barnes Stunt Flyer Extraordinaire 136 Lynn Rippelmeyer and Beverly Burns Airline Pilot Captains 142 Wally Funk Air Safety Investigator 148 Patty Wagstaff Aerobatic Firefighter 155 Ingrid Pedersen Polar Bush Pilot 161 Part V Making a Difference 167 Ruth Nichols Relief Wings in Times of Disaster 172 Fay Gillis Wells Promoting World Friendship through Flying 179 Jennifer Murray Helicopter Flying for Charity 186 Ida Van Smith Teaching Children to Fly 192 Jerrie Cobb Missionary Pilot 197 Acknowledgments 203 Notes 205 Glossary 211 Bibliography 217 Index 225
INTRODUCTION At the turn of the last century two brothers ran a bicycle shop in Dayton Ohio They had a dream of creating a machine heavier than air that could fly in the sky Although they tried many experiments they were often greeted by failure But every time they failed they would learn something that brought them closer to success They built a glider in 1902 Then they created a gasoline engine to put in a flyer Finally the Wright Brothers developed a successful airplane that first lifted off from Kitty Hawk North Carolina on December 17 1903 The story of the Wright Brothers first flight is a familiar story but mention Katherine Wright and you’re likely to get a blank look Yet without Katherine Wright it’s questionable whether Wilbur and Orville Wright would have succeeded As the youngest child and only girl in the Wright family Kath erine was forced to grow up quickly after the death of the mother from tuberculosis Only fifteen it became her job to take care of the family She was particularly close to Wilbur and Orville who were closer to her age than the two older Wright brothers She was the only one of the Wright children to finish college Katherine arranged for volunteers to help her brothers with the flying machine She later quit her job to care for Orville who 1
