Ninety-Nines
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Founded in 1929, the Ninety-Nines has 153 chapters and 27 regional 'sections' across the globe as of 2022, including a 'virtual' chapter, Ambassador 99s, which meets online for those who are too busy or mobile to be in one region for long. Amelia Earhart was elected as their first president in 1931, and the organization has continued to make a significant impact supporting the advancement of women in aviation since its inception. In 1982, the Ninety-Nines received the National Aviation Hall of Fame Spirit of Flight Award, and were inducted into the Oklahoma Air Space Museum Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2002, the organization was selected as the recipient of the Frank G. Brewer Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association, and in 2014 became induc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Born and raised in Atchison, Kansas, and later in Des Moines, Iowa, Earhart developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience from her twenties. In 1928, Earhart became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane (accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz), for which she achieved celebrity status. In 1932, piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, Earhart made a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, becoming the first woman to achieve such a feat. She received the United States Distinguish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Columbia Field
Columbia Field, originally Curtiss Field, is a former airfield near Valley Stream within the Town of Hempstead on Long Island, New York. Between 1929 and 1933 it was a public airfield named Curtiss Field after the Curtiss-Wright aircraft corporation that owned it. The public airfield closed after 1933, but aircraft continued to be manufactured there primarily by Columbia Aircraft Corporation, which gave the private airfield its name. During its five years of operation, Curtiss Field was one of the busiest airports on Long Island. The airfield was popular with many of the famous pilots of the early days of aviation including Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Frank Hawks. Several important long-distance aviation records or events were marked at the airfield. In 1929 the women's aviation group the Ninety Nines was founded at the airfield, and large airshows were often held there. After 1933 the airfield was the site of aviation manufacturing by Columbia Aircraft and Grum ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nellie Zabel Willhite
EloiseSouth Dakota Certificate of Birth #422572 or Eleanor "Nellie" Zabel Willhite (Born 22 November 1892 – 2 September 1991) was the first deaf woman to earn a pilot's license, as well as South Dakota's first female pilot. Deafpeople.com. Retrieved on 11 November 2011. Life Willhite was born in Rapid City or Box Elder, South Dakota to Charley "Pard" Zabel and Lillian Madison Zabel. Willhite became deaf at age two due to measles. There have been sources that claim she was deafened at age four instead of two. She attended South Dakota School for the Deaf and worked as a typist in Pierre, South Dakota until she enrolled in an aviation school. Willhete started flying lessons in November 1927, ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ila Loetscher
Ila Fox Loetscher (30 October 1904 – January 4, 2000), also known as the "Turtle Lady", was an American female aviation pioneer and noted advocate for the care and preservation of sea turtles. Early life and aviation Ila Marie Fox was born on 30 October 1904 in Callender, Iowa as one of a pair of twin girls, her sister was named Olive. Their parents were Eliza Anne née Sharr (known as Sally) and Charles Irwin Fox. They also had younger twin brothers. Their father was a country doctor. She received her early education in Pella, Iowa, before ultimately graduating from the University of Iowa. From her early life, Loetscher had developed in interested in engines and aviation, and she became, at the age of 25, the first licensed native Iowa female pilot. At the invitation of her friend Amelia Earhart, Loetscher was one of the 99 charter members of the Ninety-Nines, an organization founded in 1929 to promote fellowship and support for female pilots. By the 1950s, her focus ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Air Derby
The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly known. Nineteen pilots took off from Santa Monica, California on August 18, 1929 (another left the next day). Marvel Crosson died in a crash apparently caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, but fifteen completed the race in Cleveland, Ohio, nine days later. The race Background During the first two decades of heavier-than-air flying, the few women fliers in the United States became acquainted with one another during air meets and air rodeos. The bonds among the top women pilots were strengthened in the first real race for female pilots—the Women's Air Derby during the 1929 National Air Races and Aeronautical Exposition. Air-race promoter Cliff Henderson was the founder of the first Women's Air Derby, which he patterned after the men's tr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thea Rasche
Theodora Rasche (12 August 1899 – 25 February 1971) was Germany's first female aerobatics pilot. Biography Rasche was born in Unna, one of four children of Wilhelm Rasche (b. 1865), a brewery owner, and his wife Theodora Versteegh from Nijmegen. After attending a girls' school in Essen, she spent a year at a boarding school in Dresden, before going to the Rural School for Women in Miesbach. Rasche then worked as a secretary in Hamburg, where she became interested in flying, and in 1924 began taking lessons with Paul Bäumer at Fuhlsbüttel. In 1925, she received her pilot's license, and soon after became the first German woman to pass the aerobatic examination, flying a Udet U 12. She then participated as a pilot in air shows and competitions in Germany. In 1927, her father bought her a BFW Flamingo, registration number D-1120, and in July, she set off for the United States, the first of five trips. Rasche first flew from Berlin to Paris (where she met Richard E. Byrd), the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Opal Kunz
Opal Kunz (November 6, 1894 – May 15, 1967) was an early American aviator, the chief organizer of the Betsy Ross Air Corps, and a charter member of the Ninety-Nines organization of women pilots. In 1930, she became the first woman pilot to race with men in an open competition. She made many public appearances to urge more women to take up flying. Personal history Opal Logan Giberson was born in 1894 or 1896 in Missouri to Edward F. Giberson and his wife. She graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1923, she married mineralogist George Frederick Kunz (1856–1932). The marriage was annulled in 1929. The couple remained on good terms, with Kunz caring for George for the remainder of his life. On his death, he left her a substantial bequest. Aviation career Kunz earned her pilot's license in 1929. A crash two weeks later in New Jersey drew extensive press coverage; she escaped uninjured. A second crash two years later left her with gasoline burns. She ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Aeronautic Association
The National Aeronautic Association of the United States (NAA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a founding member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Founded in 1905, it is the oldest national aviation club in the United States and one of the oldest in the world, it serves as the “Aeroclub of the United States” and, by its Mission Statement it is "…dedicated to the advancement of the art, sport and science of aviation in the United States.” The NAA is headquartered at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Washington, D.C. History The NAA was founded in 1905 as the Aero Club of America (ACA), by members of the Automobile Club of America. From its inception, ACA’s goal was to promote aviation in any way possible, as both a sport and a commercial endeavor. In 1922 it was incorporated as the Aero Club’s successor, and continued the original group’s mission of promoting aviation. The NAA has been steeply involved with the growt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mary Goodrich Jenson
Mary Goodrich Jenson (November 6, 1907 – January 4, 2004) was an early woman aviator and journalist who became the first woman in Connecticut to earn a pilot's license and the first woman to fly solo to Cuba. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. Education and personal life Mary Goodrich was born in Hartford, Connecticut on November 6, 1907 to Ella E. (Reed) Goodrich and James Raymond Goodrich. Her grandfather Elizur Stillman Goodrich ran the Hartford–New York Steamboat Company and the Hartford–Wethersfield Horse Railway. She attended the Collegio Gazzola in Verona, Italy, and Gibbs College before moving on to Columbia University. In 1940, she married Carl D. Jenson, with whom she had two children. Career as pilot and journalist Jenson earned her pilot's license in 1927, at the age of 20, thereby becoming the first woman in Connecticut to achieve that milestone. While she was still training for her pilot's license, she also pursued a care ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ruth Rowland Nichols
Ruth Rowland Nichols (February 23, 1901 – September 25, 1960) was an American aviation pioneer. She is the only woman yet to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance for a female pilot. Biography Nichols was born in New York City to Erickson Norman Nichols and Edith Corlis Haines. Her father was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and had served with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders (officially known as The 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry). Ruth was sent to the Masters School, a private preparatory school for young women. On her graduation from high school in 1919, her father's graduation present to her was an airplane ride with Eddie Stinson, Jr., which spurred her interest in becoming a pilot. After her graduation from the Masters School, she attended Wellesley College, studied pre medical, and graduated in 1924. Career as a pilot While a student at Wellesley College, Nichols secretly took flying lessons. Shortly after graduation, she rece ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phoebe Omlie
Phoebe Jane Fairgrave Omlie (November 21, 1902 – July 17, 1975) was an American aviation pioneer, particularly noted for her accomplishments as an early female aviator. Omlie was the first woman to receive an airplane mechanic's license, the first licensed female transport pilot, and the first woman to be appointed to a federal position in the aviation field. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Omlie set several world records in aviation, including the highest altitude parachute jump by a woman. She was also the first woman to cross the Rocky Mountains in a light aircraft, and was considered by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to be one of "eleven women whose achievements make it safe to say the world is progressing". Early life Phoebe Jane Fairgrave was born in Des Moines, Iowa on November 21, 1902, and was the only daughter of parents Harry J. Park and Madge Traister Park. After divorcing Harry Park, Madge married Andrew Fairgrave, who adopted her two children, Phoebe and P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Valley Stream, New York
Valley Stream is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead, along the border with Queens, and is served by the Long Island Rail Road at the Valley Stream (LIRR station), Valley Stream, Gibson (LIRR station), Gibson, and Westwood (LIRR station), Westwood stations. Money (magazine), ''Money Magazine'' ranked Valley Stream as "the best place to live in New York" for 2017. History In the year 1640, 14 years after the arrival of Dutch colonists in Manhattan (New Amsterdam), the area that is now Valley Stream was purchased by the Dutch West India Company from Rockaway Native Americans (they were a Lenape, or Delaware, band, known by the place where they lived). With popu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |