Fran Bera (December 7, 1924 in Mulliken,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

– February 10, 2018), was an American aviatrix and record setting pilot. She is the first woman to fly a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

with no

tail rotor The tail rotor is a smaller rotor mounted vertically or near-vertically at the tail of a traditional single-rotor helicopter, where it rotates to generate a propeller-like horizontal thrust in the same direction as the main rotor's rotation. The ...

Early life

Frances Sebastian was born, in 1924, to Hungarian immigrant farmers in

Mulliken, Michigan Mulliken is a village in Eaton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 553 at the 2010 census. The village is within Roxand Township. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all ...

, the youngest of eight children. She graduated from high school in

Lake Odessa, Michigan Lake Odessa is a village in Ionia County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,018 at the 2010 census. It is located in the southern portion of the county in Odessa Township on the northeast shore of Jordan Lake, which is the bound ...

, but was then rejected from the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

due to her height.

Career

Fran was a CFII for over 50 years and administered over 3,000 check ride exams for new pilots and advanced rated pilots. She primarily flew fixed wing and helicopters through much of her life, and later flew her pink and white (with “Kick Ass” printed under the tail section) Piper Comanche, PA 24 – 260, single engine, for the remainder of her life. She stopped logging her flight hours after 25,000.

Records and recognition

Fran held many air racing records, and a record for the highest altitude in a normally aspirated aircraft (40,154+ feet in a Piper Aztec). Her list of accomplishments is numerous. Some of the awards she received include The Elder Statesmen Award for Aviation, presented to her in Washington, D.C. by former Senator Bob Dole, The Katharine Wright Award for over 50 years in aviation with no aviation accidents or incidents presented by the F.A.A., Women In Aviation (WIA) award for outstanding female aviator, inducted in the

Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

in 2006, and the San Diego Air & Space Museum Hall of Fame (2007), just to name a few. In 2007, Bera was inducted into the

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...

at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

.Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. .

References

Bibliography

* 1924 births 2018 deaths American women aviators People from Michigan Aviators from Michigan Helicopter pilots 21st-century American women American people of Hungarian descent {{Aviation-bio-stub