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
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 oth ...
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
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...
In August 1929, a small group of female pilots met informally in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio following the United States Women's Air Derby, and that group agreed that there was a need to form an organization to support women in the burgeoning field of aviation. Invitations to an initial meeting at a later date were sent out to all 117 female pilots licensed at the time."Our History" Ninety-Nines website. On November 2, 1929, the organization was founded at Curtiss Field near Valley Stream,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
by 26 licensed female pilots for the mutual support and advancement of "Women
Pilots
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
." At the suggestion of
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 oth ...
, the organization's name was taken from the number of charter members, eventually settling on "Ninety-Nines."
Membership
Charter members include:
*
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 oth ...
Mary C. Alexander
Mary Charlotte Alexander (March 2, 1893 – April 16, 1955) was an American aviation pioneer, one of the first women to become a commercial pilot.
Alexander's husband was a salesman and they opened the J. I. Alexander Motor Company in Lynchburg ...
Viola Gentry
Viola Gentry (1894 - 1988) was an American aviator, best known for setting the Elinor Smith#Endurance records, first non-refueling endurance record for women.
Early life
Gentry was born in Gentry, Rockingham County, North Carolina. She learned to ...
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 r ...
*
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 bor ...
*
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 ...
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 Nijmege ...
*
Marjorie Stinson
Marjorie Claire Stinson (July 5, 1895 – April 15, 1975) was an American aviator, airmail pilot, pilot instructor, and stunt pilot.
She trained at the Wright Flying School, and earned her Fédération Aéronautique Internationale license in 1914 ...
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.Margaret Adams
*
Ruth Alexander
Ruth Blaney Alexander (May 18, 1905 – September 18, 1930) was an early female pilot in the United States who established several records in altitude and distance during 1929 and 1930.
Youth
Ruth Blaney was raised in Irving, Kansas in Mar ...
Pancho Barnes
Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes (July 22, 1901 – March 30, 1975) was a pioneer aviator and a founder of the first movie stunt pilots' union. In 1930, she broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record. Barnes raced in the Women's Air Derby and was a m ...
Kathryn Hach-Darrow
Kathryn "Kitty" Hach-Darrow (October 20, 1922 – June 4, 2020) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist who co-founded the Hach Chemical Company in 1947 with her first husband Clifford C. Hach (pronounced hɑ:k). She was essential to th ...
Peggy Kelman
Margaret Mary Kelman, OBE (6 April 1909 – 23 December 1998) was an Australian pioneer aviator.
Personal life
Kelman was born as Margaret Mary McKillop in Scotland in 1909, her father was the Irish nationalist politician William McKillop, a ...
*
Theresa M. Korn
Theresa Marie Korn (née McLaughlin, November 5, 1926 – April 9, 2020) was an American engineer, radio enthusiast, and airplane pilot. The first woman to earn an engineering degree from what is now Carnegie Mellon University, she was the auth ...
Elsie MacGill Elsie may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Elsie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Lily Elsie (1886–1952), English actress and singer born Elsie Hodder
* Robert Elsie (1950–2017), Canadian expert in Albanian ...
*
Anésia Pinheiro Machado
Anésia Pinheiro Machado (June 1902 or 5 June 1904, in Itapetininga – 10 May 1999) was the second licensed female pilot in Brazil ( Teresa De Marzo being the first.) She made her first solo flight on March 17, 1922. In April 1922 she received Bre ...
*
Pamela Melroy
Pamela Ann Melroy (born September 17, 1961) is an American retired United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut serving as the deputy administrator of NASA. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded miss ...
*
Betty Miller (pilot)
Betty Jean Verret Miller (April 6, 1926 – February 21, 2018) was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean, which she did in May 1963.
Early life
Betty Jean Verret was born in Venice, California on 6 April 1926 to Earday Ver ...
*
Terry Neese
Terry Neese (born December 1, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician. She was the first woman nominated by a major political party for the seat of Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in 1990 and a candidate for Oklahoma's 5th congression ...
Dorothy Rungeling
Dorothy Wetherald Rungeling (May 12, 1911 February 17, 2018) was a Canadian pilot from Fenwick, Ontario hailed as one of Canada's most experienced air racers. She was the adopted daughter of Ethelwyn Wetherald, the Canadian poet and journalist. I ...
*
Sheila Scott
Sheila Christine Scott OBE (nee Hopkins; 27 April 1922 – 20 October 1988) was an English aviator who broke over 100 aviation records through her long distance flight endeavours, which included a "world and a half" flight in 1971. On this fl ...
*
Katharine Stinson
Katharine Stinson (1917-2001) was an American aeronautical engineer and the Federal Aviation Administration's first female engineer.
Early life
Born in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, 14 years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight ...
Patty Wagstaff
Patty Wagstaff ( née Patricia Rosalie Kearns Combs; born September 11, 1951) is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.
Wagstaff was introduced to aviation as a child; her father was a pilot for Japan Airlines. After gradu ...
*
Shannon Walker
Shannon Walker (born June 4, 1965) is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space.
She returned to space for ...
*
Nancy-Bird Walton
Nancy Bird Walton, (16 October 1915 – 13 January 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviator, known as "The Angel of the Outback", and the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
In the 1930s, she became a fully ...
Edna Gardner Whyte
Edna Gardner Whyte (November 3, 1902 – February 15, 1992) was an American aviator whose career as a pilot and instructor spanned more than four decades. She was also an air racer who won more than two dozen races.
Biography
Edna Marvel Gardner ...
::(president 1955–1957)
*
Jeana Yeager
Jeana Lee Yeager (born May 18, 1952) is an American aviator. She co-piloted, along with Dick Rutan, the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from December 14 to 23, 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 m ...
Charter member Margaret Thomas "Tommy" Warren believes she might have been the youngest charter member of the 99's — being only 17 when she joined. She was not present at the first gathering of women aviators on Long Island in October 1929, but did go to New York with Frances Harrell for the second meeting on December 14 at the home of
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 r ...
, and was appointed to represent Texas.
The Ninety-Nines, Inc. is a non-profit
501(c)3 organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...
, and as of 2017 has 5,159 members in 30 countries. The mission of the Ninety-Nines is to promote world fellowship through flight, provide networking and scholarship opportunities for women in aviation, foster aviation education opportunities in the community, and preserve the unique history of
women in aviation
Women have been involved in aviation from the beginnings of both lighter-than air travel and as airplanes, helicopters and space travel were developed. Women pilots were also
formerly called "aviatrices" (singular "aviatrix"). Women have been fl ...
. The organization is divided into "sections" that are part of geographical areas covering multiple states in the continental U.S. and outlying territories, provinces in Canada, and regions of countries in continents across the globe. Chapters are the smallest grouping, often representing large cities or metropolitan areas under their geographical "sections".
Historical initiatives
Efforts of members which significantly contributed to the documentation, preservation and publication of The Ninety-Nines historical records and museum contributions include those of Virginia Thompson, who joined the organization in 1954. Thompson became the first Historian of the Mid-Atlantic Section (formerly the Middle-East Section), a founding member and Chairman of the Washington D.C. Chapter, and eventually the Mid-Atlantic Section Governor during a pivotal time in U.S. History leading up to the Kennedy Administration and boom of the United States Aerospace Industry.
On July 26 1963, Thompson, along with five other female aviators (including charter member and former Ninety-Nines International President, Blanche Noyes ) accompanied
President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
as he personally honored aviatrixes during the Amelia Earhart First Day Cover presentation at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. In addition to founding the Shenandoah Valley Chapter, Thompson served as International Historian of the Ninety-Nines for many years, and was Secretary of the International Women's Air and Space Museum, and a Smithsonian archivist. For nearly 65 years, Virginia Thompson was an active member of The Ninety-Nines until her passing in 2019.
Scholarship fund
The Ninety-Nines ''Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund'' (AEMSF) program assists in funding flight training, technical training or academics for both recreational and career track women pilots by awarding scholarships to qualified members. The AEMSF "First Wings" award is a progressive milestone scholarship of up to $6,000 to assist a student pilot Ninety-Nine in completing her Private Pilot training. In addition to the AEMSF program, many individual chapters of the Ninety-Nines give their own flight scholarships to benefit local woman aviators.
Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum
The Amelia Earhart Birthplace is a historic building and museum that was the birthplace of aviator Amelia Earhart. It is located at 223 N. Terrace in Atchison, Kansas, United States.
The house was built in 1861 in a Gothic Revival style and i ...
in Atchison, Kansas. The birthplace and early childhood home of early aviator
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 oth ...
has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been returned to its turn-of-the-century condition by the "99s"; it features an abundance of personal and family memorabilia.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, is home to the 99s Museum of Women Pilots. Museum artifacts include historical papers, personal items, video and oral histories, photos, memorabilia and other notable artifacts from famed woman aviators from around the globe. The museum collection and exhibits provide insight into the role women pilots played in the development of aviation and their historical footprint.
Activities
Ninety-Nines members support the goals of the organization by being active in numerous aviation activities, including : aviation education seminars in the community, air racing, from the
Powder Puff 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 kn ...
to the ''Palms to Pines'' and the Air Race Classic; and airmarking by volunteering their time to paint airport names, compass rose symbols and other identifications on airports and the
National Intercollegiate Flying Association The National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) is a professional organization that provides a forum of competition and learning for aviation students from colleges all around the United States.
Official NIFA Mission Statement "The National ...
(NIFA). Most regional and national NIFA competitions have "99s" on their panels of judges.