this was really helpfull but i could not find bessie coleman

Well....she won't do that again........

Why Katherine Sui Fun Cheung is not included in this report! She was America's First Chinese-American pilot. She was also part of the 99er club.

She was well known for her jumpsuit which was colored purple.

I have been doing research on Mary riddle on and off for nearly a year. I will speak with anyone who would like to discuss this wonderful and fascinating lady. I will be doing a story about her in our next newsletter. contact me at the Aberdeen Museum of History (360) 533-1976

although i am only young, this site has given me valid information and i don't know anybody however i am truly inspired by all of this

I'm proud to say Mary Riddle came from Tribe. Would like to get in contact with David Kaufman and anyone else that knew Mary. My e-mail is jeremy2feathers@yahoo.com. Thanks

I knew Mary Riddle and be happy to talk to anybody. I worked in the same company as Mary, Gibbs & Hill.

mary riddle was the first native amrican women to be an aviator

I think it was fasinating you flew the famouse 99er.

I knew June Reynolds Edwards in the 1960s. At the time she was a television personality on Channel 17 in Bakersfield, California where her husband, Wayne, was working as a crop duster.
June told me how at one time she had as many hours in the air as Amelia Earhart, had been a president of the Ninety-Nines and one of the first women crop dusters. One of her jobs was flying a crop duster to Cuba in the pre-Castro days and teaching men there to crop dust.
She suddenly left Bakersfield around 1968 and I have not located her since. Why is she not listed on any website or in any aviation books on women pilots if this info is true?
Anyone out there know anything?
Thanks for info.

Why is there no photograff of Beryl Markham?? She was an incredible aviator and writer as well.

Harriet Quimby has a book written about her. It's called Wings. I have always wondered if that book was based off true events, now I know. I encourage anyone who loves aviation to read it. It is a romance/adventure book, and is very informative in an interesting way. It's not like reading a biography.

The photo labled Betty Skelton is definately not Betty. That photo would have been taken pre-WWI according to the pilot dress. Betty was not even alive during that time. She did not come into fame until AFTER WWII.

Does anyone know if Mary Riddle, the first Native American woman pilot, is still alive? Any information about her would be much appreciated.

While Jackie Cochrane was indeed the first woman to exceed the speed of sound, she did not accomplish that feat in just any "F-86 Sabrejet". The aircraft she used to set her jet records was the sole Canadair Sabre 3 #19200. The Sabre 3 was the first of the Canadair-built Sabres to be powered with the Canadian designed and built Orenda engine in place of the GE J47. Jackie used the Canadian aircraft because the USAF refused to loan her an aircraft. Jackie was able to use her husband's business connections and her own political connections to secure the loan of the aircraft and limited USAF cooperation for her record attempts. Evidently the base commander at Edwards Air Force Base was not too happy at being ordered to cooperate by his bosses in Washington.

Patricia Trenner confused Matilde Moisant, the second licensed U.S. woman flyer, with Betty Skelton.
Best, Barbara Ganson

The photograph allegedly of Betty Skelton appears to have been taken in the early 30's (I'm going out on a limb and guess that's a Swastika medal and post 1933 Nazi Germany?)... given her birthdate of 1926 the chronology and geography doesn't match. Alsoarticle fails to mention Chuck Yeager in one of the photos.

I am now 86 years old and am having great fun writing my memoirs. My most vivid memory was when in my 20's in Chicago Il. when, during WW2, there was the Civil Air Patrol that we could join. Soon I was connected to (1) required "ground lessons" Upon passing this exam, I paid for my "maiden flight" at an airport on the outskirts of Chicago. I remember that once I got up in the sky my instincts called upon me to keep going onward and onward. Quickly, however, the ground instructor ran around the field waving me to come back. Never could afford more flying but my memoirs keep me "up there" with great pleasure. Even now, in my senior building, I have a picture of the Piper Cub similar to the one I flew and I never tire telling those who will listen, my story.

Hey PT. You're welcome to disagree, but I'm right. Nothing is clear unless it is written clearly. If it had been a missing apostrophe or comma, I would have never posted anything. It happens. The error I pointed out was really slathered in weaksauce, and shows there was barely an editor to this puff piece.

best,
Chance

I have three daughters and no sons (all my fault genetically; two are happily married, the third has just been divorced by her man as he was messing around with another woman who, like her, had borne two children). Understandably, I have always had a special interest in achievements by women. Hence my interest in this item, which was most informative. Moreover, years ago I knew two women who had ferried warplanes across the Atlantic to Britain during WWII. One never hears anything about them, any more than about black pilots or Japanese infantrymen during this same war. One other instance of this sort: We learned recently of an American male who taught his wife how to play golf. (She wished to accompany him on some of the many time he played the game.) She defeated him once. They never played together again. Are males so insecure that they cannot recognize that those who possess Adam's rib, or "slant eyes," are equally human and just as capable as they?

Thanks Ms Trenne for the clip on Willa Brown. She was a great person! David E. Brown nephew

Chance wrote: "This sentence is incorrect, because it inherently defines Bleriot's feat as being the first woman to fly solo over the English Channel."

Disagree. "That feat" clearly refers to "fly[ing] solo over the English Channel." You're straining to find an error where there is none.

Shame on Patricia Trenner and your editors for letting a grammatical blooper slip past! "...each has their own groundbreaking story to tell"...? This is entirely too carelessly common, but in this story, where "her" is logical, there's even less excuse for the lack of pronoun/antecedent agreement.

Sorry to nit-pick, but I found it jarring.

Ruth Moser

Would like to have seen the Dietrich Twins mentioned - they won many Powder Puff Derby races and were quite well known in the 50s.

You left out the first person to fly east to west over the Atlantic ocean, Beryl Markham.

I was disapointed to see that you did not include Katherine Cheung among your illustrious female aviators. In the 1930s she was known as the Chinese Amelia Earhart and was a member of Earhart's Ninety-Nine Club.

I don't see the name of Cornelia Fort from Tennessee

You write: "The next year she became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel, just three years after Louis Blériot first accomplished that feat."

This sentence is incorrect, because it inherently defines Bleriot's feat as being the first woman to fly solo over the English Channel. I'm guessing Louis Bleriot is a man, therefore the sentence makes no sense. If Bleriot is a woman, it still makes no sense because then Quimby wouldn't have been the first woman to do it.

Best,
Chance

It is indeed Chuck Yeager. He and Cochran were friends. Fast company.

Who is the guy in the photo with Jacqueline Cochran? I'm assuming, since she was the first woman to break Mach 1, that it's the first guy to do it, Chuck Yeager. Would have been nice to identify that in the caption, if it's true.