aviation fixation

Amelia Earhart begins her journey.

WWII —- Indian pilots who flew Birmingham built Spitfires during The Battle of Britain

During her aviation career, from the 1930s through the 1960s, Jacqueline Cochran (1906-1980) set more speed and altitude records than any contemporary pilot, male or female, and was the first woman to break the sound barrier. During World War II, she was instrumental in formation of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs). This photograph was taken ca. 1962 when she received the Harmon Trophy for establishing eight World Class records in jet planes.

Mildred “Micky” Axton was one of the first three Women Air Force Service Pilots to be trained as a test pilot and the first woman to fly a Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Hazel Ying Lee 李月英 (1912-1944), a native of Portland, Oregon, took her first flight in 1932 at the age of 19. She joined the Chinese Flying Club of Portland and in that same year, received her pilot’s license, becoming one of the first Chinese American women to do so, and among the 1% of American pilots who were women. Following the Japanese attack on China in 1933, Lee traveled to China and volunteered to serve in the Chinese Air Force. As the Air Force did not accept women pilots, Lee settled in Canton and took a job flying for a private airline, before returning to the United States in 1938. In 1943 Lee joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (“WASP”) which was created in an effort to sustain the war effort and overcome the shortage of male pilots at home. She became the first Chinese American women to fly fighter planes for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Lee was killed in a flying accident at Great Falls, Montana on November 23, 1944, while ferrying a P-63 from Buffalo, New York.

More images: Texas Woman’s University Libraries

Documentary by Alan Rosenberg and Montgomery Hom, “A Brief Flight: Hazel Ying Lee and the Women Who Flew Pursuit”: www.hazelyinglee.com