Mary Barr (July 11, 1925 – March 1, 2010) was the first
female aviator to join the
US Forest Service, along with being an accident prevention counselor,
mechanic in a variety of fields, and
flight instructor throughout her lifetime.
Career
While living in
Lorain, Ohio
Lorain () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 65 ...
and working in a factory, Barr first learned how to fly aircraft in 1946 as part of a
Piper club
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. She had dropped out of
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
the year before in order to find a job to pay for flying lessons. After completing her training, she obtained a job training others to be commercial pilots.
During the end years of
World War II, she decided to help build aircraft for the war, which led to her moving to
New York City and joining an
aircraft mechanic school.
This also involved acting alongside members of the
Women Airforce Service Pilots to assist in transporting war goods and planes across the US. The end of the war resulted in the Barrs moving to
Susanville, California
Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 a ...
in 1949, and setting about running and improving the Susanville airport. After obtaining her certification in 1957, she was given the position of
FAA Pilot Examiner
In the United States, a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) is a senior pilot who examines applicants for a Pilot Certificate on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The DPE must check applicants’ qualifications, conduct an oral test ...
for
Lassen County.
She still continued to serve as a fire response pilot in the following years, being a member of the "Air Attack Program" for Susanville in 1959 alongside her husband. In 1964, Barr became one of the first four women to ever be a part of the
Reno Air Races.
She placed second in the Reno National Championships in the Stock Plane Class using a
Piper Cherokee. She was given the position of a
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accident prevention counselor in 1971 thanks to her past FAA certificates in not only piloting, but also instruction. This job was a part of a new program for the FAA that involved Barr counseling pilots alongside 19 other experienced instructors spread across five states in the western US to help reduce the risk-taking activities of new or long inactive pilots throughout the region.
Beginning a career in the
US Forest Service in July 1974, she became the first female pilot to do so, being promoted to official staff after having worked with the Forest Service as a contract pilot for several years. Her job entailed working as a lead plane pilot for the California North Zone Air Unit. Later in the 1970s, Barr moved to
San Francisco to be an
Aviation Safety Officer for the Forest Service, then becoming a National Aviation Safety Officer in
Washington D. C., and finally moving to
Sacramento, California in 1985 to act as Regional Safety Officer until her eventual retirement.
During her lifetime, Barr received a number of
FAA certifications, including for "Commercial, Airline Transport Pilot, Flight Instructor, Instrument, and Glider".
Awards and honors
In 1988, Barr was given a special recognition award by the
Lassen Experimental Aviation Association (LEAA) for her years of service in helping pilots and using the Susanville airport to relay weather information to the public. Given the "Cooperator of the Year" award in 1993 by the Honey Lake Valley Resource Conservation District, she was noted for her efforts in improving irrigation and building stabilization structures for rivers and streambanks in the region. She was named as a member of the 2001
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 ...
by
Women in Aviation, International
Women in Aviation International (WAI) is an American nonprofit organization, which provides networking, education, mentoring, and scholarship opportunities for women and men in careers in the aviation and aerospace industries. It aims to promote ...
and directly honored by the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Personal life
Barr met her husband and boss at the time, David Barr, while teaching piloting in 1946.
They married the next year and had two children, Molly and Nevada.
Gallery
Photo of Mary Barr 2.jpg, alt=Photo of Mary Barr sitting in the cockpit of her transport plane, 1975, Photo of Mary Barr sitting in the cockpit of her transport plane, 1975
File:Photo of Mary Barr 3.jpg, alt= Photo of Mary Barr standing on the wing of her transport plane, 1975, Photo of Mary Barr standing on the wing of her transport plane, 1975
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Mary
1925 births
2010 deaths
People from Lorain, Ohio
American women aviators
United States Forest Service officials
Aerial firefighting
American women civilians in World War II
Aviators from Ohio
21st-century American women