Image via Complex Original
Women have been the butt of driving jokes for decades, but those are directed at women with four wheels beneath them and a steering wheel in their hands. So what about when you put them in a vehicle with wings that can take them soaring through the sky? Throughout the years, there have been women breaking barriers in the aviation world, and we'd like to take today to pull out some of our favorites and some of the most important. Here are 15 of the most influential female pilots, the fly gals of the century.
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Mary Riddle
Born: 1912, Clatsop and Quinault tribes
Claim To Fame: First Native American women to obtain a pilot's liscence (1930)
Riddle was part of the Clatsop and Quinault tribes. In addition to being an esteemed aviatrix, she was also an experienced parachute jumper. She was also part of a group of Seattle-based female pilots and parachutsists who toured the country, making spectacular flight performances and parachute jumps. Riddle was featured in Native American attire for the June 1934 edition of The 99er, a magazine dedicated to the adventures and achievements of women pilots.
Baroness Raymonde de Laroche
Born: August 22, 1882, Paris, France
Claim To Fame: First woman to obtain a pilot's license (1910)
Laroche was the daughter of a French plumber and initially an actress by profession. However, her fiesty, inquisitive nature helped her become one of the most daring aviatrixes in history. She was trained by Charles Voisin, an experienced aviator who would later become her close friend and mentor. She was also the first professional female test pilot. Laroche met with death in 1919 when her plane crashed near an airfield in Le Crotoy. She was only 36 years old.
Harriet Quimby
Born: May 1, 1875, Arcadia, Mich.
Claim To Fame: First woman to become a liscensed pilot in the U.S (1911).
As a young woman, Quimby had dreamed of becoming a journalist. However, after she met aviator John Moisant and his sister Matilde Moisant, her interest in flying grew. Harriet and Matilde began taking lessons together-- the first steps in their new and exciting careers. Harriet Quimby was daring and fearless and earned the title of first woman to fly across the English Channel. Unfortunately, Quimby passed away July 1, 1912 when the aircraft that she was flying with aviator William Willard suddenly nose-dived. Willard was the first to be thrown from the aircraft, followed by Quimby. The aircraft itself landed with minimal damage.
Amelia Earhart
Born: July 24th, 1897, Atchison, Kan.
Claim To Fame: First person to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932)
Earhart's very first flight was only 10 minutes long, but it changed her life. After that, She began taking up odd jobs (she was a truck driver at one point) in order to pay for her flight training, starting her bold career under the care and instruction of fellow female pilot Anita "Neta" Snook.
Like other women breaking into the field of aviation, Earhart desperately wanted to be taken seriously by her male peers. So, she cropped her hair and wore worn-out leather jackets with pants. Earhart gradually became an icon for women around the world with the help of writer George Putnam, who later became her partner and husband. Sadly, she disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 with her navigator, Frederick Noonan, while attempting to fly around the world. Earhart and Noonan had completed 2/3 of the journey before they dissappeared.
Geraldine Mock
Born: November 22, 1925, Newark, Ohio
Claim To Fame: First woman to fly around the world solo (1964)
Mock only had 500 hours of experience when she decided to attempt a flight around the world. She began her preparations by obtaining an Instrument Rating, starting her world-famous journey after only 750 hours of experience. She made her incredible journey in a 1953 Cesna 180. It's interesting to note that Joan Smith, a fellow woman pilot, also had dreams of accomplishing an around-the-world solo and she and Mock began their flights at around the same time. Although Mock stated publicly that she wasn't competitive or into racing, her husband and fellow pilot, Russell Mock, urged her to travel faster throughout her flight, and of course, Geraldine Mock finished first.
Willa Brown
Born: January 22, 1906, Glasgow, Kent.
Claim To Fame: First African-American woman to earn a Commercial Pilot's Liscense in the U.S. (1937).
Willa Brown was initially a married school teacher in Gary, Ind. However, she ultimately had a change of heart in her lifestyle, obtaining a divorce and moving down the road to Chicago where she started taking flying lessons. She became a member of the Chicago Girls Flight Club and even bought her own plane. With this newfound independence, Brown took her first steps with her new career.
Brown played a major role in advocating for racial integration within the U.S. Airforce. She helped create The National Airmen Association of America that pushed for this effort. In 1948, the Tuskegee Airmen were created thanks to the association. Brown trained several of the Tuskegee pilots, and her husband and very first flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey, was also a Tuskegee pilot.
Bessie Coleman
Born: January 26th, 1893, Atlanta, Tex.
Claim To Fame: First African-American woman to obtain an International Pilot's Liscence (1921)
Despite her passion for aviation, Coleman was not permitted to learn flying in aviation schools across the United States because of her race. However, this wasn't enough to stop Coleman. She travelled to France, where she trained in the Caudron Brother's School of Aviation. She earned her license within seven months. She went on to become one of the greatest stunt pilots of her time, giving her first performance in the United States in 1922. She died at the age of thirty-three in a flight accident while she was rehearsing for an air show.
Wally Funk
Born: 1940, New Mexico
Claim To Fame: First woman FAA inspector (1971)
Wally Funk was something of a flying wiz, graduating as number one from the 24 promising pilots in her class. Funk landed her first aviation job at the age of 20 as a Civilian Flight Instructor for officers of the U.S. Army. At 21, she became interested in being an astronaut. Funk was part of NASA's Mercury 13 Program that qualified 13 women as ready for space travel. However, the final test in the program was never conducted and Mercury 13 was suddenly closed down. Although her dreams of being an astronaut could not be achieved, Funk never gave up on flying. In 1971 Wally Funk completed the FAA General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course; she was the first woman to do so.
Emily Howell Warner
Born: October 30, 1939, Denver, Colo.
Claim To Fame: First woman captain for a commercial passenger aircraft (1976)
As an 18-year-old, Warner worked at the May Company, where glamourous flight attendants would often stop by during their breaks to shop around. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant and saved up money to go on her first commercial flight. During her first flight, she asked to see the cockpit and was immediately captivated by the controls and the flight itself.
Warner began taking flight lessons and became an avid and experienced pilot, starting her new career in aviation. She even went on to become a flight instructor, constantly struggling to make her way up in the aviation world. Warner didn't have much hope when it came to acheiving her dreams, though. When she was a flight instructor, many of her male students had no trouble getting the jobs she had always wished for. She was finally given her chance in 1976, when she became the first woman captain for a commercial passenger aircraft, breaking barriers that had prevented women from acheiving this position before.
Beverly Burns
Born: August 15, 1949, Baltimore, Maryland
Claim To Fame: First woman to be the flight captain of a Boeing 747 aircraft (1984).
Burns completed her successful career with a total of 25,000 flight hours and opportunities to fly several other Boeing aircraft, including the Boeing 757, Boeing 767, and Boeing 777 models. She won an Amelia Earhart Award for her astounding achievements.
Before her position as flight captain, she had worked as a flight attendant, baggage handler, gate agent, and dispatcher and avionics trainer. So what prompted her to become a pilot? While Burns was working as a flight attendant, a male first-officer explained to the crew that women were not smart enough to pilot large commercial aircraft. Sometimes, haters can be the best motivators. On that day Burns swore to herself that she would become an airline captain.
Jacqueline Auriol
Born: November 5, 1917, Challans, France
Claim To Fame: First woman to gain admission into France's Military Flight Test Centre as a test pilot (1950)
In 1949, Auriol went through a terrible flight accident that completely crushed her face. She had to have 33 plastic surgery operations over the course of three years in order to have the effects of the mishap corrected. She refused to see her two young sons, Jean-Claude and Jean-Paul, throughout the whole process. However, she remained as glamourous as ever and her traumatic experience didn't stop her from flying. France's Jacqueline Auriol was the counterpart to America's Jacqueline Cochran. The two were famous rivals. The day Auriol flew a Vampire fighter she said, "that day I experienced a sense of completeness-- an extraordinary sensation of power."
Jacqueline Cochran
Born: May 11, 1910, Pensacola, Flo.
Claim To Fame: First woman to break "Mach 1", beating the sound barrier (1953)
Jacqueline Cochran was orphaned as an infant and grew up in the foster-care system. She was actually a beautician before she developed an interest in aviation. Always tough and determined, Cochran began her flying career after she received her license in 1932. She went on to participate in numerous races and challenges, setting approximately 200 records during her entire flying career. Cochran also led the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP's) during the second World War, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945 for her outstanding efforts.
Patty Wagstaff
Born: September 11, 1951, St. Louis, Miss.
Claim To Fame: First woman to hold the title of "U.S. National Aerobatic Champion" (1991)
When Wagstaff was nine, her family moved to Japan, as her father was a flight captain for Japan Air Lines. Wagstaff's earliest memories of flying are the ones with daddy. When she was 10, she was briefly given the controls of his DC-6. After that moment, her love affair with flight began. Wagstaff earned her position on the U.S. Aerobatic team within five years of obtaining her pilot's license. She is currently certified to fly numerous jet and fighter plane models and also works as a flight instructor. Her sister, Toni Wagstaff, is a flight captain for Continental Airlines.
Valentina Tereshkova
Born: March 6, 1937, Bolshoye Maslennikovo, Russia
Claim To Fame: First woman to be in space (1963)
Tereshkova came from very humble beginnings. She was born into a peasant family and began working at a textile mill at 18. She also joined a parachuting club that year, applying to be a cosmonaut at 24. She realized that the Soviet Union was on the lookout for female pilots and parachutists for their attempt to place the first woman in space. Tereshkova was one of five women selected to train for outer space environments, eventually rising to be the top choice. The USSR kept all their missions top-secret. Her family didn't even know about her real job until it was announced on the radio.
Eileen Collins
Born: November 19, 1956, Elmira, N.Y.
Claim To Fame: First woman to be the pilot of a space shuttle (1995)
Eileen Collins was a military flight instructor and somewhat of a math genius before she became an astronaut for NASA. After being given the opportunity to pilot a space shuttle, Collins became commander of a mission that she was given in 2005. Collins completed four space flights during her career, with an impressive total of 872 space hours. Her advice to today's generation: "We're a nation of explorers. We are the kind of people who want to go out and learn new things, and I would say take risks, but take calculated risks that are studied and understood."