List_of_women_aviators

List of women aviators

List of women aviators

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This is a list of women aviators — women prominent in the field of aviation as constructors, designers, pilots and patrons.

Aida de Acosta flying the airship Baladeuse in 1903 – the first woman to pilot a powered aircraft

It also includes a list of their relevant organisations such as the Betsy Ross Air Corps and Women's Royal Air Force.

Individuals

A

  • Amen Aamir, first women from Gilgit-Baltistan to qualify as a pilot
  • Aida de Acosta (1884–1962), first woman to fly a powered aircraft alone[1]
  • Margaret Adams, Australian aviator; first president of the Australian Women's Flying Club, in 1938
  • Leman Altınçekiç (1932–2001), first female accredited jet pilot (1958) in Turkey and NATO.
  • Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1864–1927), second woman to attempt a flight across the Atlantic
  • Gaby Angelini (1911–1932), first Italian woman to complete a trans-European flight
  • Kimberly Anyadike (born 1994), youngest African-American female pilot to complete a transcontinental flight
  • Cecilia Aragon (born 1960), first Latina pilot on the United States Aerobatic Team[2]
  • Tamar Ariel (1989–2014), Israel's first Jewish female religiously observant air force pilot, in 2012
  • Jacqueline Auriol (1917–2000), French test pilot who rivalled Jacqueline Cochran in breaking speed records[3]
  • Micky Axton (1919–2010), one of the first three Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) to be trained as a test pilot; first woman to fly a B-29
Lilian Bland flying the Mayfly in 1911. She built the aircraft herself to become the first woman to fly in Ireland.
  • Asli Hassan Abade, First African female fighter jet pilot. A prominent Somali Air Force pilot, military figure, and civil activist.
  • Zoya Agarwal, world's youngest woman pilot to fly the Boeing 777 (2013), captained world's longest flight route over North Pole (2021)

B

Willa Brown, the first African-American woman to receive a commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol
  • Pancho Barnes (1901–1975), granddaughter of balloonist Thaddeus Lowe; founded the Women's Air Reserve, Associated Motion Picture Pilots and became the "mother of the Air Force"[4][5]
  • Mary Barr (1925–2010), first female pilot to join the US Forest Service and become National Aviation Safety Officer[6]
  • Jean Batten (1909–1982), made first solo flight from United Kingdom to New Zealand in the 1930s
  • Ann Baumgartner (1918–2008), test pilot; first American woman to fly a U.S. Army Air Forces jet aircraft (a Bell YP-59A jet fighter)
  • Amelie Beese (1886–1925), first woman pilot in Germany[7]
  • Elly Beinhorn (1907–2007), German enthusiast who made long-distance flights on every continent and flew around the world[8]
  • Dagny Berger (1903–1950), Norway's first woman aviator
  • Susana Ferrari Billinghurst (1914–1999), Argentinian pilot; first woman in South America to gain a commercial pilot's licence, in 1937
  • Lilian Bland (1878–1971), built her own aircraft; first woman to fly in Ireland[9]
  • Line Bonde (born c.1979), first Danish woman to become a fighter pilot, in 2006
  • Maude Bonney (1897–1994), Australian aviator who was the first female to fly from England to Australia in 1933 and to South Africa in 1937.
  • Ana Branger (born early 1920s), early Venezuelan aviator
  • Jill E. Brown (born 1950), first African American female pilot for a major US carrier
  • Willa Brown (1906–1992), first black woman to hold both a commercial and private licence in the US; founded the National Negro Airmen Association of America; first black female to be an officer in the Civil Air Patrol[10]
  • Mrs Victor Bruce (1895–1990), born Mildred Mary but most famous by her married name; first woman to fly around the world alone and the first to be prosecuted for speeding[11][12]
  • Millicent Bryant (1878–1927), first woman to earn a pilot's licence in Australia
  • Beverly Burns (born 1949), American pilot, possibly the first woman to captain a jumbo jet (see Lynn Rippelmeyer)[13]

C

Bessie Coleman in 1922
  • Mary Calcaño (1906–1992), first Venezuelan woman to be granted a pilot's license
  • Maie Casey (1892–1983), first patron of the Australian Association of Woman Pilots[14]
Amelia Earhart standing under nose of her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra

D

E

  • Amelia Earhart (1897–1937), first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic[24]
  • Amelia Rose Earhart (born 1983), reporter and pilot
  • Lotfia Elnadi (1907–2002), the first African woman, first Arab woman, and first Egyptian woman to earn her pilot’s license in 1933.
  • Ruth Elder (1902–1977), pilot and actress known as the "Miss America of Aviation"[25]
  • Mary Ellis (1917–2018), one of the last surviving British women pilots from World War II

F

  • Rosina Ferrario (1888–1957), first Italian woman to receive a pilot's licence, in January 1913
  • Amalia Celia Figueredo (1895–1985), Argentine aviator; first woman in Argentina, and possibly Latin America, to obtain a pilot's license in 1914 with Paul Castaibert
  • Kathleen Fox (born 1951), Canadian flight instructor, air traffic controller and business executive
  • Mathilde Franck (1866–1956), early French aviator; learned to fly in 1910
  • Wally Funk (born 1939), one of the Mercury 13; first female air safety investigator at the FAA[26]
  • Elisabeth Friske (died 1987), first West German woman to become a commercial airline pilot

G

World's first female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen.
  • Maggie Gee (1923–2013), American aviator who served in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) in World War II
  • Betty Gillies (1908–1998), pioneering American aviator; first pilot to qualify for the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron
  • Sabiha Gökçen (1913–2001), adopted by Kemal Atatürk; World's first female combat pilot[27]
  • Maya Ghazal, Syrian refugee and pilot
  • Patricia Graham (1928–2016), Australian aviator, founding member of the Australian Women Pilots' Association in 1950
  • Valentina Grizodubova (1909–1993), long distance flyer and wartime hero; the most decorated woman in the Soviet Union[28]
  • Julie Ann Gibson (born 1956), Flight Lieutenant Julie Ann Gibson was the first full-time female pilot for the Royal Air Force when she graduated in 1991
  • Mette Grøtteland (born 1969), first female fighter pilot of The Royal Norwegian Air Force.

H

J

K

L

  • Raymonde de Laroche (1882–1919), first woman in the world to get a pilot's licence[34]
  • Ruth Law (1887–1970), American aviator who looped the loop twice at Daytona Beach in 1915
  • Constance Leathart (1903–1993), first British woman outside London to get a pilot's licence[35]
  • Hazel Ying Lee (1912–1944), Chinese-American pilot who flew for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II
  • Olga Lisikova (1916–2011), only woman pilot-in-command of a C-47 Skytrain in the Soviet Air Force
  • Lydia Litvyak (1921–1943), fighter ace; first woman to shoot down an aircraft[36]
  • Ila Loetscher (1904–2000), female aviation pioneer and activist on behalf of sea turtles
  • Rose Lok (1912–1978), first female Chinese-American pilot in New England

M

N

O

  • Sicele O'Brien (1887–1931), one of Ireland's pioneering female pilots who raced and set records in Europe and Africa in the 1920s
  • Ruth Law Oliver, first woman pilot to wear a military uniform and the first to deliver air mail to the Philippines[45]
  • Phoebe Omlie (1902–1975), first woman to receive an airplane mechanic's license; first licensed woman transport pilot

P

  • Suzanne Parish (1922–2010), member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots; co-founder of the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum
  • Ingrid Pedersen (1933–2012), first woman to fly over the North Pole[46]
  • Thérèse Peltier (1873–1926), French aviator; first woman to pilot a heavier-than-air craft at Turin in 1908

Q

  • Harriet Quimby (1875–1912), first woman to get a U.S. pilot's licence and fly across the English Channel[47]

R

S

Blanche Scott, the "Tomboy of the Air"
Neta Snook, who taught Amelia Earhart how to fly

T

  • Louise Thaden (1905–1979), winner of the first Powder Puff Derby[65]
  • Penny Thompson (1917–1975), American aviator, promoter of women's intercontinental air shows, and aviation publisher
  • Bonnie Tiburzi (born 1948), first female pilot for American Airlines and the first female pilot for a major American commercial airline.
  • Bobbi Trout (1906–2003), set endurance records and was the first woman to fly all night[66][67]

V

  • Polly Vacher (born 1944), flew solo around the world in a record-breaking small plane[68]
  • Dolors Vives Rodon (1909–2007), pioneering Catalan aviator
  • Amalia Villa de la Tapia (1893-1994), First bolivian female pilot, get her licence in Perú march 15, 1922. First South-american women to get a pilot's licence in Europe, Le Crotoy, may 17, 1927.

W

  • Patty Wagstaff (born 1951), first woman to win the US Aerobatic Championship[69]
  • Nancy Bird Walton (1915–2009), pioneering Australian aviator who founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association
  • Zheng Wang (Julie Wang, Wang Zheng, 王争) (born 1972), first Asian woman to circumnavigate Earth in an airplane, first Chinese person to fly solo around-the-world; first Chinese female pilot to fly around the world[70][71][72]
  • Emily Howell Warner (1939–2020), first woman captain of a scheduled US airline
  • Jo Claire Welch (1939-2018) Believed to be the first US woman hired as a commercial co-pilot, beginning 1969, for domestic commuter airline, Air East, with a flight from Houston to Austin
  • Fay Gillis Wells (1908–2002), founder member of the Ninety-Nines and its first secretary;[73] one of the earliest female members of the Caterpillar Club[74]
  • Cicely Ethel Wilkinson (c.1882–1967), pioneering British pilot
  • Benedetta Willis (1914–2008), one of the first 5 women to get RAF wings, in the 1950s.
  • Edna Gardner Whyte (1902–1992), trained many military pilots in WWII; first female member of the Daedalian fraternity[75][76]

Y

Z

Organisations

See also

References

Citations

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Sources
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