Summary Ann Baumgartner was inspired by Amelia Earhart and became America's first woman to pilot a US Army Air Force jet. Eileen Collins broke aviation records, being the first female space shuttle commander and paving the way for women in space missions. Valentina Tereshkova remains the youngest woman to have flown to space, setting records that still stand today.
Raymonde de Laroche was the woman who opened up a world of possibilities for women in aviation as she was the first female to get a pilot's license . She inspired a generation of female pilots such as Amelia Earhart , often called "The Face of Female Aviation." Women aviators later broke several piloting records and served prestigious space institutions such as NASA and Vostok.
In this article, we will look at five famous female military pilots who made history and broke records. 5 Ann Baumgartner Inspired by Amelia Earhart On October 14, 1944, Ann Baumgartner became the first American woman to pilot a US Army Air Force jet as she took to the skies with the Bell YP-59A, America’s first jet aircraft. The aircraft could fly up to 665km/h with a range of 604km and had room for a single crew.
hen Ann Baumgartner was a child, Amelia Earhart - the woman who perished as she tried to become the first female to circumnavigate the world - visited Ann's school. Amelia's example led Ann to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The training under the WASP program made sure that Ann had 210 flying hours, and made her competent in a wide number of subjects, such as : Ground school theory Aviation Mechanics Morse code Military law and navigation Aero Time reported the aviation experience of this pilot, who "gained experience piloting and co-piloting the B-17, De Havilland Mosquito and German Junkers Ju88".
By the end of 1944, the WASP program had come to an end and this led her to become a flight instructor for United Airlines. She detailed her experience as a military test pilot in the Second World War in her book, ‘A WASP among Eagles’. 4 Eileen Collins The woman who opened up opportunities for a female to pilot space shuttle Eileen Collins, at the age of 14, had written to NASA inquiring the qualifications it took to become an astronaut.
NASA told her that it did not recruit women for space missions back then, and Collins wryly replied, "Well, times have certainly changed." Not only have times changed, but so have aviation records. Thanks largely to Eileen Collins, who held distinctions such as : She was the first female commander in shuttle history, as she made it to shuttle services such as STS-63, STS-94, STS-93, STS-114.
She is the first woman to pilot a space shuttle. ..
Collins made it possible for women aviators to lead space missions. She was a born pilot, who started her piloting missions with Cessnas. She later moved on to a glider’s license, and finally the military, where she flew aircraft such as: Northrop’s T-38 supersonic jet Lockheed’s C-141 strategic airlifter In the latter part of her journey in aviation, she instructed junior pilots on Cessna’s T-41 trainer.
3 Evelyn Bryan Johnson The world's oldest flight instructor A graduate of Tennessee Wesleyan College. Evelyn Bryan Johnson was nicknamed "Mama Bird" . She went on to serve as a colonel in the Civil Air Patrol - the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF).
You can see her bust outside the Morristown Regional Airport in Tennnessee. Some of the records held by Evelyn include: Trained more pilots than any other in history. Logged the most number of flight hours for a woman at 57,635.
4 flying hours. This is equivalent to almost seven years of flight time . Despite developing eye problems, Johnson flew well into her nineties.
When she was 101 years old - an age when she held the title of manager of Morristown Airport - she said retirement would come only when she was old enough. Her extraordinarya chievements were encapsulated in the piece by Luke Peters and Dr. Omar Memon : " (she) only quit (flying) at 96 after a car accident in 2006 resulted in her undergoing a leg amputation.
Even after that, she continued in her Morristown Airport management role. On July 21st, 2007, Johnson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, alongside NASA astronaut Sally Ride and the late aviation adventurer Steve Fossett." 2 Valentina Tereshkova Youngest woman to space, and the record still stands Very few people haven't heard the name of Valentina Tereshkova.
After all, she is immortalized in the field of aviation and space science as the first woman to go to space. Even sixty years after having made it to space, she still remains the youngest woman to have flown to space. Although there are several criteria for defining where space begins , Valentina still remains the youngest woman to have crossed the altitude of 100 kilometers - one of the international definitions for the altitude that marks the beginning of space.
She has even expressed her desire to go to Mars, as she was quoted by Reuters to have said : "If I had money, I would enjoy flying to Mars. This was the dream of the first cosmonauts. I wish I could realize it! I am ready to fly without coming back.
" Some of the records set by Valentina Tereshkova include: She is the only female astronaut or cosmonaut to make a solo space journey. On her single mission to space, she "logged more flight time than the combined times of all American astronauts who had flown before that date." 1 Jacqueline Cochran The pilot who holds the highest number of speed records Cochran was the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic.
There are bits about her history that make her a superwoman . She was born into a life of poverty and had no formal schooling beyond the third grade. By the time of her death in 1980, she "held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any pilot, male or female".
Jacueline Cochran held multiple leading positions in aviation, some of which were listed by the National Air and Space Museum : A six-time recipient of the Harmon Trophy in the Aviatrix category and a one-time recipient in the National category. Two-time president of the Ninety-Nines - a women's flying organization First female president of the Fédération Aéronatique Nationale (FAI, the official keeper of aviation records). For these reasons, she was often called a "Speed Queen".
She was also the first woman to break the sound barrier..
