There are so many girls and women who have made the first step in aviation. Even though the world’s first licensed female pilote, the french Raymonde de Laroche dates over 100 years now, most female pilots needed to overcome social obstacle, gender prejudice and aviation policy restrictions.
Even today, only just over 5% of worldwide airline pilots are women, – being with 13% surprisingly India! (see Forbes).
Maybe the percentage will be more equal when Willow is finally in the age of becoming a real pilot. But without the courageous Role Models liek Amelia Erhart, that wouldn’t be possible.
So, lets have a look at some of these brave women who put their foot in this typical “male domain”.
Amelia Earhart
1897-1939, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
There are so many girls and women who have made the first step in aviation. Even though the world’s first licensed female pilote, the french Raymonde de Laroche dates over 100 years now, most female pilots needed to overcome social obstacle, gender prejudice and aviation policy restrictions.
Even today, only just over 5% of worldwide airline pilots are women, – being with 13% surprisingly India! (see Forbes).
Maybe the percentage will be more equal when Willow is finally in the age of becoming a real pilot. But without the courageous Role Models liek Amelia Erhart, that wouldn’t be possible.
So, lets have a look at some of these brave women who put their foot in this typical “male domain”.
Amelia Earhart
1897-1939, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
History.com ::: See more here
Raymonde de Laroche
1882-1919, first woman in the world to receive an aeroplane pilot’s licence
“Baroness” de Laroche
In July 1910, de Laroche was participating in the week-long airshow at Reims in France. On 8 July, her aeroplane crashed, and she suffered such severe injuries that her recovery was in doubt, but two years later, she was fit again and had returned to flying. On 26 September 1912, she and Charles Voisin were involved in a car crash. Voisin was killed, and she was severely injured.
On 25 November 1913 de Laroche won the Aero-Club of France’s Femina Cup for a non-stop long-distance flight of over 4 hours duration.
During World War I, as flying was considered too dangerous for women, she served as a military driver, chauffeuring officers from the rear zones to the front under fire.
In June 1919 de Laroche set two women’s altitude records, one at 15,700 feet (4,800 m); and also the women’s distance record, at 201 miles (323 km).”
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Hélène Dutrieu
1877-1961, first woman pilot to stay airborne for more than an hour
“Girl Hawk”
“She was the first woman pilot to stay airborne for more than an hour and on 21 December 1910 she became the first winner of the Coupe Femina (Femina Cup) for a non-stop flight of 167 km in 2 hours 35 minutes. In 1911 she regained the Coupe Femina temporarily with a flight of 254 km in 2 hours 58 minutes but that year’s cup was eventually won by Marie Marvingt. In September 1911 Dutrieu travelled to the United States with her Farman III biplane. She competed for the women’s altitude record and the Rodman-Wanamaker trophy, subsequently won by Matilde Moisant, at the Nassau Boulevard airfield meeting in Garden City, New York. In the same year Dutrieu beat 14 male pilots to win the Coppa del Re (King’s Cup) in Florence, Italy. In 1912 she reputedly became the first woman to pilot a seaplane. Later the same year she won a prize in competition against four other seaplane pilots, including Réne Caudron, at Ouchy-Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1913 Dutrieu became the first woman aviator awarded membership of the Légion d’honneur (French Legion of Honour).”
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Blanche Scott
1884-1970, first woman to pilot and solo in an airplane in the United States
“Tomboy of the Air”
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Jacqueline Cochran
1906-1980, first woman to break the sound barrier
“Speed Queen”
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Bessie Coleman
1892-1926, first black woman to receive a pilot’s license and the first woman to get an international pilot’s license
“Brave Bessy”
“Queen Bess,” as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. Invited to important events and often interviewed by newspapers, she was admired by both blacks and whites. She primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes and other aircraft which had been army surplus aircraft left over from the war. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as “the world’s greatest woman flier” and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots, and a jump by black parachutist Hubert Julian. Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers—including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome.
Coleman would not live long enough to establish a school for young black aviators but her pioneering achievements served as an inspiration for a generation of African-American men and women.“
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Adrienne Bolland
1895-1975, first woman to fly over the Andes between Chile and Argentina
“France’s most accomplished female aviator”
Adrienne Bolland, born Boland, (25 November 1895 – 18 March 1975) was a French test pilot and the first woman to fly over the Andes between Chile and Argentina. She was later described as “France’s most accomplished female aviator”, setting a woman’s record for loops done in an hour. The French government eventually recognized her with the Legion of Honor and other awards. Since her death, she has been commemorated with a postage stamp.
Born into a large family outside Paris, she became a pilot in her twenties to pay off gambling debts. An early crossing of the English Channel led René Caudron, her employer, to send her to South America to demonstrate his planes, where she made her Andes crossing, assisted, she later said, by a tip relayed to her from a medium. Later in her life she became involved in leftist political causes, and eventually became part of the French Resistance.”
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