A Closer Look at Female Pilots During Women’s Aviation Week
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week is upon us, and the only female pilot I know is the famous one, Amelia Earhart. She was aviation’s darling until she disappeared along with her navigator and was presumed dead in 1937. It went viral. Crackpots reported seeing her years later, in hiding. After 89 years, there are still people dedicating themselves to searching for her lost Lockheed Electra 10-E. Just last week, one headline said $11 Million Hunt for Amelia Earhart’s Plane May Finally Solve Mystery.
The first man-made things to fly were kites
Next came big balloons filled with hot air, with large wicker baskets hanging beneath. In time of war, these balloons would be tied to stakes to keep the winds from blowing them into enemy territory. Gliders came along, and then there were airplanes using motors to spin propellors the same way boats do, but faster.
Most Americans know Orville and Wilbur Wright flew a powered airplane from the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
The year was 1903. Not as many know how seven years later, a woman who called herself the Baroness of Flight was the first female to get a pilot’s license. For an idea about how bizarre that would have been, it would be another ten years before women were given the right to vote.
Sophie Blanchard became the first female balloon pilot when she took off in 1754. The balloon was open at the bottom so the air in the bag could be heated, causing it to rise.
Some say Elizabeth Thible was the first female balloonist. Naysayers said it didn’t count, disqualifying her for having a man in the basket with her.
Our little Sophie was quite something
She was Napoleon’s Chief Air Minister. There are still whispers that she drew up plans for an invasion of England by balloon. What we do know is that she brushed aside warnings against carrying fireworks aloft and detonating them from above. Of course the balloon caught fire, crashed, and Sophie was dead.
Wilbur Wright liked to give free airplane rides to select female onlookers
In 1910, one of the lucky ones was a young, beautiful, and shapely French actress named Raymonde de Laroche. She immediately took up flying and became the first-ever female airplane pilot in 1910. People called her the Bird Woman, but de Laroche preferred Baroness. She broke bones again and again crashing her own planes again and again. One day a pilot offered to give de Laroche a ride in an experimental plane he was testing. Both were killed in the crash.
Elizabeth Coleman was born into a family of Negro sharecroppers (period-correct) in Texas and attended a segregated one-room school
Bessie wanted to be a pilot, but American aviation training schools denied her entry based on her race and gender. One parent was a Native American and the other was a Negro (period correct).
Bessie wanted that license badly enough that she learned French, moved to France, and earned her pilot’s license there in 1921. She chose France, where she knew people were far more relaxed about dark-skinned people than Americans.
U.S. Navy Lt. Patricia Denkler went through flight school with 15 other women
In 1982 she became the first woman to land a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier. Denkler left the Navy for a pilot job with Delta Airlines and flew for them for 31 years. There’s a footnote: Denkler said her flights were not publicized because the Navy wanted to avoid controversy.
Harriet Quimby was a writer for several San Francisco newspapers, journals, and magazines
She caught the flying bug after being a spectator at an air show. Quimby enrolled at the Moisant School of Aviation out on Long Island and became the first woman to earn a pilot’s license from the Aero Club of America, a subsidiary of the Fédération Aeronautique International.
So Harriet was the first woman to get a pilot’s license in the United States and de Roche was the world’s first. The following year, Harriet was the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
Nicole Malachowski reached the high point of her career with the Thunderbirds
She was the first woman pilot selected to fly a two-year tour of duty with the elite U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the precision aerobatics team. The Thunderbirds fly 50 weeks of the year.
After flying nearly 200 combat hours, Colonel Malachowski contracted a tick-borne disease
She was mustered out of the service with a medical retirement. This came after a doctor sagely informed her, “We don’t have Lyme disease here (in North Carolina).” Malachowski is still active as a leader in advocating for and supporting Lyme disease research.
But wait, there’s more
In August 2025, Malachowski discovered that some articles documenting her historic achievements had disappeared from official military websites. “When you click on that link, it’ll say ‘404 page not found,'” Malachowski said. Stories with headlines such as “A life in flight for first woman ‘Thunderbirds’ pilot” that were previously available on military websites were made inaccessible on both the Air Force and Marine Corps websites.
Geraldine Fredritz Mock was the first woman to fly solo around the world
In 1964, Mock flew a single-engine Cessna 180 christened the “Spirit of Columbus” and nicknamed “Charlie.” The trip began March 19, 1964, in Columbus, Ohio, and ended April 17, 1964, in Jerrie’s hometown, Columbus, Ohio.
Jacqueline Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier
She was going 760 miles per hour (1,225 km), folks. Long before that she was one of two leaders of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) and its 1,000 civilian volunteer pilots. At the time of her death she held more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other pilot.
Cochran like to claim she was adopted, but she wasn’t
Some sources said she was the first female pilot to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. If so, Lt. Denkler must only have landed her jet and not taken off. Regular readers know well that much of what is presented to us as history isn’t as accurate as it claims to be.
Hélène Dutrieu of Belgium was the world’s first female air racer
She was the first female seaplane pilot, too. Also worthy of mention is that Hélène was a world champion cyclist, stunt driver, automobile racer, wartime ambulance driver, stage performer, journalist, and the first female to fly with a passenger.
Tsk, tsk
Wikipedia says there was a flurry among the uptight when it was reported in the press that Hélène did not wear a corset while flying. Her fans were more interested in her being the first pilot to wear a high-fashion designer pilot suit.
France’s Marie Marvingt was a world class swimmer, shooter, ski-jumper, bobsledder, skater, nurse, balloonist, and Alpine mountain climber
HubPages called her The Fiancée of Danger. “In 1905, Marvingt gained notoriety as the first French woman to swim the entire length of the Seine river as it flowed through Paris.” Some say she became the world’s first female combat pilot in 1911.
Guinness disagrees, saying they recognize Turkish pilot Sabiha Gökçen as the world’s first female combat pilot in 1937.
In 1994, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Kimberly Dyson became the first American woman to fly a combat mission for the United States.
Mireille Goyer created the Fly It Forward movement
Volunteer female pilots give young girls free short flights, not as a passenger with maybe a small window nearby and a seatback in front of you, but sitting side by side with the pilot in the copilot’s seat, surrounded by windows. on a short ride around a small regional or private airport. The site says the program’s pilots have given free rides to 70,000 girls. I believe Wilbur would be proud.
Bonus
Wanda Whittsit isn’t famous. She should be. Whittsit is the founder of LifeLine Pilots, volunteers who fly patients needing life-changing medical care. Beginning in 1980, she encouraged pilots everywhere to volunteer their services when medical air transport is needed to get patients to care centers.
LifeLine Pilots fly more than 140,000 nautical miles (160,000 terrestrial miles) each year, and have successfully completed 10,000 life-changing missions. Ten thousand lives changed and we’ve never heard of her. We can name hundreds of B and C list celebrities, movie actors, musicians, and vocalists who saved no lives. Quick – how many people can you name that have actually saved the life of one or more people?
Don’t forget it’s Women of Aviation Worldwide Week March 2-8, 2026
Each year the aviation industry gathers to honor one of the female pilots of history. It celebrate women’s contributions to the aviation industry and promotes aviation opportunities for young girls and women. This year they honor Fly it Forward. The nonprofit Women in Aviation International says this on the website:
We envision a world where the sky is open to all, where aviation and aerospace dreams are possible without barriers.
For you socializers, sign up for the Pink Paper Plane 10-Second Video Challenge. #WOAW26 and #PinkPaperPlaneChallenge
