HomeHomeSeptember 2003
This summer, while on a flight back to the Twin Cities, I heard a rather unique sound coming from the cockpit. In fact, I’m not sure I remember hearing such a welcome sound before. It was so rare, I sat up and took notice. Perhaps it’s because I don’t fly that often that the sound was such a wonderful distraction. What was I hearing? The voice of a female pilot, the captain of our flight, who was giving us the usual information about what to expect during our trip!
It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Since the beginning of modern aviation, women have been flying along with men, and they have played a prominent role in history. After Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew for the first time at Kitty Hawk on December 17th, 1903, female aviators eagerly looked for opportunities to become involved in this exciting new mode of transportation. Although most of the early female pioneers endured incredible discrimination and ostracism by their male contemporaries, they persevered, setting new records, and testing their endurance.
Here are a few examples: E. Lillian Todd was the first woman to design and build an airplane in 1906. Journalist Harriet Quimby crossed the English Channel in 1912. African-American Bessie Colman, faced with discrimination and lack of opportunity in the U.S., went to France to learn how to fly. In 1921, fearless Bessie became the first black female pilot to hold a license. In 1936, author Beryl Markham (West With The Night), was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic in an east to west direction.
Jackie Cochran, a contemporary of Amelia Earheart, broke several cross-country flying records. She became involved with the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in England in World War II, and later became Director of Flight Training for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS). After the war, she became a test pilot, and the first woman to break the sound barrier. (By the way, Sara Merlin wrote a wonderful article about Jackie on the X-Press website, part of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.)
Helen Richey also was a pioneer in the history of women in aviation, and became the first woman to pilot a plane for Penn Central Airlines in 1934. Unfortunately, the pressure and ostracism from her male peers proved to be too much, and she resigned.
It wasn’t until the 1970’s that commercial airlines began in earnest to hire women as pilots. According to Carole S. Briggs, author of a wonderful children’s book called At The Controls: Women In Aviation (Lerner Publications, Minneapolis, MN,1991), there were a grand total of four female commercial airline pilots in the U.S 1973! Bonnie Tiburzi, the first female pilot hired by American Airlines that same year, was promoted to co-pilot status by 1979. Piedmont Aviation pilot Cheryl Peters was the first woman airline captain in 1982. By 1984, Lynne Rippelmeyer became the first female captain of the 747 jumbo jet. Briggs writes that by 1990, there were nearly 900 women flying for the major air carriers.
Later this year, Americans will be celebrating the Centennial of Flight, and much of the attention will be focused on the contributions made by the Wright Brothers. Along with the celebrations, let’s also remember the early female pioneers who also made history in the field of aviation. And let’s hope that in the future, we hear see and hear more female pilots in the cockpits of our commercial airliners!
Teresa
News, resources, and interesting tidbits:
There’s a wealth of information about aviation history and the role women have played. If you’re curious about the subject, here are a few places to begin:
The U.S. Commission on the Centennial of Flight has a web page at: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/index2.cfm
Seattle’s Museum of Flight is hosting an exhibition on the "Birth of Aviation" beginning August 23rd, 2003. According to the museum, this exhibit is "the most comprehensive exhibition presented anywhere in the world during this Centennial of Flight year on the Wrights‘ efforts to turn humanity‘s age-old dream of flight into a reality."
Incidently, in the latest issue of Invention and Technology magazine (which is associated with the National Inventors Hall of Fame has two fascinating articles about the Wright Brothers. The first one is called, "How They Flew" by author Richard P. Hallion, who wrote the excellent Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age From Antiquity Through the First World War (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003). The second article about the Wrights is a report on "How They Failed" by Phaedra Hise, freelance journalist, pilot, and author of Pilot Error: Anatomy of a Plane Crash (Brasseys, Inc., 2003).
Adventurous pilot Polly Vacher currently is flying her Piper Dakota around the world. Her mission is to "fly a single engine aircraft around the world and to endow a flying scholarship for a disabled person." You can keep track of her progress on the Worldwings.org website.
Women in Aviation International is having a regional conference in Wichita, Kansas from October 17th-18th, 2003.
Are you wondering about the timeline of women in aviation history? The students and teachers at Thinkquest, a nonprofit which "offers programs designed to advance education through the use of technology," have done a great job of compiling the information. You can find the timeline at http://library.thinkquest.org/21229/timeline.htm
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum offers a wealth of information on women in aviation and space history. You can find the information on their website: http://www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/aero/women_aviators/
The International Women’s Air and Space Museum, located at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, also has fascinating information on their website. Their mission is "dedicated to the preservation of the history of women in aviation and space and the documentation of their continuing contributions today and in the future."
The Ninety-Nines is an international organization of women pilots which was founded in 1929. Their membership includes over 6,000 licensed pilots from 35 different countries. The 99’s occupy a special space in aviation history.
Wings Over Kansas, whose mission is to "enrich and educate the millions of aviation enthusiasts and professionals worldwide by operating and developing a high-quality aerospace web site resource, delivering knowledge, information and entertainment with focus on the Past, Present and Future of Flight from the Air Capital of the World, offering immeasurable value to the global aeronautics and astronautics community". Among the items you’ll find on their site is an article by Bonnie Johnson about the role American women "WASPS" played in aviation in WWII.
In 1950, a group of thirty five women became the first members of the Australian Women Pilots' Association. Their mission is to assist women to achieve their goals in aviation. More information about the first female Aussie pilots can be found at the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame website. The NPWHF is dedicated to "preserving the place of women in history and their special contribution to Australia's heritage."
And in 1955, the British Women’s Pilot Association was formed to help women in aviation. You can read about this fine organization at http://www.bwpa.demon.co.uk/page2.html
The New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation "aims to foster friendship amongst women interested in aviation."
You can learn about a few of the famous Indian women in aviation on this website devoted to "Great Women In India."
Many women in aviation work on the ground. For instance, here are the Professional Women Controllers, Inc.
Finally, let’s not forget about the men AND WOMEN who work in the important field of aviation maintenance! The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance was formed "for the purpose of championing women’s professional growth and enrichment in the aviation maintenance fields by providing opportunities for sharing information and netowrking, education, fostering a sense of community and increasing public awareness of women in the industry."
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