December 18, 1941 Recordbreaking aviatrix Laura Ingall was arraigned in federal court on charges of being a German spy. Ingalls had flown 344 consecutive loops and 714 barrel rolls, and had been the first woman to fly nonstop coast to coast across the United States. Ingalls was convicted of being an unregistered foreign agent and served time in Alderson Prison.
December 17, 1887 Madame Marie Louise Driancourt was born in Lyon, France. A widow with three daughters, Driancourt earned her pilot’s license on June 15, 1911 and performed in many flying exhibitions. When her plane was completely destroyed in a crash she chose to retire from aviation.
December 16, 1936 Ivy May Pearce competed in the Brisbane to Adelaide Air Race, posting the fastest time for any woman and finishing only two seconds behind the male winner. Pearce was one of the only female aerobatic pilots in Australia. Later she became a prominent Australia fashion “guru” and owned three exclusive boutiques.
December 15, 2006 Sally Ride, the first woman to orbit the earth, was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Ride helped develop the Space Shuttle’s robotic arm and used that arm to retrieve a satellite in 1983 during a mission on board Challenger. She founded Sally Ride Science, a company that develops student science projects and curriculum, with a special focus on girls.
December 14, 1989 Captain Carol Mitchell led the first all female crew on a US Air Force combat mission. Other crew members were 1st Lt Siobhan Couturier, Captain Anita Mack, Staff Sgt. Josie Harshe, Tech. Sgt. Sigrid Carrero-Perez and Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo.
December 13, 1934 Central Airlines, later part of United Airlines, hired pilot Helen Richey, the first woman to fly for a commercial passenger airline. Male pilots harassed Richey and refused to allow her to join the pilots’ union, eventually forcing her to resign. Richey accomplished many other important aviation firsts, including first woman to fly airmail. Along with co-pilot Frances Marcalis she achieved a ten day in-air endurance record.
December 12, 1904 Barnstorming pilot Katherine Sui Fun Cheung was born in Canton, China. At age 17, Cheung moved to the United States to live with her father. She soon began flying lessons and became the first Chinese American woman licensed to fly. Cheung traveled the country performing complicated aerobatic maneuvers at fairs and air shows. “What’s the point of flying a plane if you can’t have fun doing it?”she said.
December 11, 1933 Texas Governor Miriam “Ma” Ferguson proclaimed December 11 “National” Aviation Day in honor of the Wright Brothers’ first flight. Ferguson, Texas’s first female governor, had never flown in a plane.
December 10, 2006 Astronaut Sunita Williams set off on board space shuttle Discovery to join the Expedition 14 crew on the International Space Station. She returned to earth on June 22, 2007, after 195 days the longest space flight by a woman. In orbit Williams donated her ponytail to Locks of Love. Astronaut Joan Higginbotham cut Williams hair and brought it back to earth with the STS-116 crew.
December 9, 1974 The National Transportation Safety Board hired Wally Funk as an Air Safety Investigator, the first woman to hold the job. With over 17,000 hours of flight time, Funk had aspired to be an astronaut and was one of the “Mercury 13”, chronicled by Tanya Lee Stone in ALMOST ASTRONAUTS.
