Here are some notable moments in women's aviation history:
1906: E. Lillian Todd of the United States becomes the first woman to design and build an aircraft. 1908: Therese Peltier of France becomes the first woman to pilot an aircraft. 1910: Raymonde de Laroche of France becomes the first woman in the world to receive a pilot license. 1911: Harriet Quimby becomes the first American woman licensed pilot, and later that year, the first woman to fly at night. 1927: Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie of the United States becomes the first woman to obtain an aircraft mechanics license. 1928: Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the Atlantic -- Lou Gordon and Wilmer Stultz did most of the flying. 1929: Amelia Earhart becomes the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots. 1930: Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. 1930: Anne Morrow Lindbergh is the first woman to earn a glider pilot license. 1932: Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. 1934: Helen Richey is the first woman pilot hired by a regularly schedule airline, Central Airlines. 1935: Amelia Earhart is the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the American mainland. 1936: Beryl Markham becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic east to west. 1937: Amelia Earhart is lost over Pacific. 1938: Hanna Reitsch becomes the first woman to fly a helicopter and the first woman to be licensed as a helicopter pilot. 1953: Jacqueline (Jackie) Cochran becomes first woman to break the sound barrier. 1964: Geraldine (Jerrie) Mock is the first woman to pilot a plane around the world. 1973: Emily Howell Warner becomes the first woman to work as a pilot for a commercial airline (Frontier Airlines). 1973: U.S. Navy begins pilot training for women. 1974: Barbara Allen Rainey of the United States is the first woman pilot in the U.S. military. 1994: Vicki Van Meter is the youngest pilot (to that date) to fly across the Atlantic in a Cessna 210. She is 12 years old at the time of the flight. 2001: Polly Vacher is the first woman to fly around the world in a small plane. She flies from England to England on a route that includes Australia. Sources: www.wai.org and http://womenshistory.about.com
Font Resize
