Elizabeth (Betty) Wall Strohfus fell in love with flying airplanes in the 1940s and became a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) during World War II. She fought for WASP veteran recognition in the 1970s, and from the 1990s until her death, she traveled across the country to tell her story and inspire others.
The first licensed female pilot in North Dakota and a pioneer of aviation
National Women’s Party suffragist, aviator, inventor
Boeing Airplane Company’s first female engineer.
After flying as a first officer on Convair 580s and de Havilland Twin Otters, in 1976, she became the first female captain on a scheduled U.S. airline. She later became captain of a Boeing 737 for United Parcel Service. In 1974, she became the first woman member of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
At the age of 24, American Airlines hired her as a pilot in March 1973. She was the first woman hired by a major airline as a member of the cockpit crew. At American Airlines, she flew as flight engineer, first officer, and captain on the Boeing 727.
Florence Collins, geologist and aviator, was a woman of adventure and an important part of Denali National Park and Preserve’s long history of scientific research.
Shirley Feldstein enlisted in the WAVES at Portland, Oregon, in September 1942. She received training at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Norman, Oklahoma, during the first part of 1943 and was a member of the initial group of WAVES to become Aviation Metalsmiths. Later, she served in that rate at Naval Air Station, Seattle (Sand Point), Washington.
In February 1946, Commander Hancock became the Assistant Director (Plans) of the Women’s Reserve and was promoted to WAVES’ Director, with the rank of Captain, in July of that year. She guided the WAVES through the difficult years of Naval contraction in the later 1940s and the expansion of the early 1950s, a period that also saw the Navy’s women achieve status as part of the Regular Navy.
WWII military pilot active in the fight for veteran status for the WASPs and the first WASP to be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.