Women Aviators

Amelia Earhart became the first female pilot to complete a solo trans-Atlantic flight, in 1932. A champion for equal rights, Amelia later wrote best-selling memoirs and contributed to the women pilot’s group The Ninety-Nines. In 1937, Amelia disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean and was later declared dead.

Bessie Coleman was an American civil aviator and the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license. Nicknamed Queen Bess, Coleman became a high-profile pilot in the air shows organized in the United States. Bessie Coleman died at the age of 34 in a plane crash. Her efforts to promote aviation inspired the Native American communities.

Susan Oliver was an American actress, aviator, and television director. She achieved popularity after appearing in popular TV series like Star Trek. Susan Oliver also achieved fame as an aviator; in 1967, she became only the fourth woman to fly a single-engined airplane solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh was an American aviator and writer. She is best remembered for her exploratory flights along with her husband and pioneer aviator, Charles Lindbergh. Anne was the first woman to earn a US glider pilot license in 1930. In 1996, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Betty Ong was an American flight attendant who was declared a hero by the 9/11 Commission after the September 11 attacks. Ong was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists on 11 September 2001. Betty Ong notified the ground crew of the hijacking, becoming the first person to alert the authorities.

US Air Force veteran MJ Hegar has also been a Democratic candidate for the 2020 US Senate election for Texas. Known for her bestselling autobiography Shoot Like a Girl, she was awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor for her fearless military service in Afghanistan, where she was shot at.

Born to a dentist father in New Zealand, Jean Batten was initially sent to England to study music. However, she earned a pilot’s license instead and made many aviation records, which included completing the first solo flight from England to New Zealand. In her final years, she became a recluse.

Sara Netanyahu is an Israeli educational and career psychologist. She is married to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She is the daughter of a Polish-born Israeli Jewish educator. She has worked as a psychotechnical evaluator and an educational psychologist. She has received much negative media attention for the mistreatment of her staff. 

American aviation pioneer Geraldyn M. Cobb was part of the pathbreaking Mercury 13 program and scripted history as the first female candidate to pass astronaut testing. She had a pilot’s license by 18 and later found new air routes to the Andes and the Amazon rain forests and immersed herself in humanitarian work.

A pioneer in women’s aviation, US pilot Jacqueline Cochran was the first female pilot to break the sound barrier. She was also the first woman to lead the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as its president and the first female Bendix race competitor. She held several other records and also led the organization WASP.

Women’s aviation pioneer, Harriet Quimby became the first female pilot to complete a flight across the English Channel. Starting her career as a journalist for Dramatic Review, she later worked as a drama critic for Leslie’s Weekly, before stepping into aviation. She was killed when her aircraft lost control over Dorchester Bay.

Pioneering US aviator and female movie stunt pilot Pancho Barnes helped develop the first film stunt pilots’ union. The granddaughter of aeronaut and inventor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, she launched the guest ranch Happy Bottom Riding Club. Her nickname Pancho helped her disguise herself as a man in Mexico in her initial days.

In 1982 Russian former aviator and Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya flew to space aboard Soyuz T-7 becoming the second woman to fly to space. She again went to space during Soyuz T-12 mission and this time she not only achieved the feat of becoming the first woman to fly to space twice but also the first woman to perform spacewalk.

British-origin Australian politician Sussan Ley was born in Nigeria and raised in the UAE and England, before moving to Australia in her teens. The Liberal Party deputy leader went on to represent Farrer in the Australian Parliament after managing ministries such as health, aged care, environment, and sport.

Aloha Wanderwell was a Canadian-American explorer, aviator, author, and filmmaker. In 1927, she became the first woman to travel around the world in a Ford 1918 Model T, at the age of 21. When she was 16, she undertook a journey, in which she traveled across 80 countries. Wanderwell is also remembered for making films like My Hawaii. 

Refused entry in the Tour de France because she was a woman, French athlete Marie Marvingt finished the course by herself. An aviator and mountaineer, too, she later made many sporting records. She was the first female fighter pilot. She had also been a journalist, a medical officer, and a ski school instructor.

Niloofar Rahmani is the first woman in Afghanistan’s history who became fixed-wing Air Force aviator. She is Afghan Air Force’s first female pilot since 2001 fall of Taliban. Despite receiving death threats, Rahmani completed her training which included training on C-130s with the US Air Force. She received International Women of Courage Award and was granted asylum in the US.

Ellen Church was an American nurse and flight attendant. She wanted to establish herself as a commercial pilot. Since airlines were not hiring women pilots at that time, Church convinced Boeing Air Transport that having nurses as flight-stewardesses would help bring in more passengers. Subsequently, in 1930, Ellen Church became the first female flight attendant.

Initially a math teacher at a private school, US academic, engineer, and inventor Edith Clark later became the US’s first professional female electrical engineer and first female professor of electrical engineering. In 1926, she became the world’s first woman to present a paper at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.