RetroNews: EAA To Recognize Female Aviators At 'WomenVenture 2008'

Aero-News.net: EAA To Recognize Female Aviators At 'WomenVenture 2008'
EAA To Recognize Female Aviators At 'WomenVenture 2008'
Sat, 15 Mar '08

Joins Forces With Women In Aviation, International To "Elevate Your Life"
What could easily be the largest gathering of women pilots in history is just one of the highlights of the inaugural "WomenVenture 2008" activities taking place at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008. The 56th annual edition of the EAA fly-in convention will take place July 28-August 3 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.



WomenVenture 2008 was developed through a partnership between EAA and Women in Aviation, International, and was officially announced at the WAI convention in San Diego, CA Friday morning under the theme "Elevate Your Life." The program is designed to recognize and encourage women aviators, who are less than 10 percent of the nation's pilot population. There will be programs and activities throughout the week for longtime women pilots, those women interested in learning to fly and encouraging girls to explore the worlds of flight and the sciences.

"It is important to recognize the accomplishments of women in ways that challenge and motivate others. Women can reach for the sky and elevate their lives," said Elissa Lines, EAA's vice president of commercial and donor relations, and a pilot. "We want to celebrate what women have achieved."

The grand finale of the weeklong WomenVenture 2008 activities will be the largest assemblage of women pilots in history when they are invited to gather at AeroShell Square on Friday, August 1. Prior to that record-setting event, however, WomenVenture will also feature:

Women Soar/You Soar event on July 27-28, designed for high school-age girls and featuring women who have volunteered to share their aviation career knowledge and direction as mentors;
Numerous workshops, forums and evening programs featuring women aviators;
WomenVenture representatives in EAA Member Village welcoming all women pilots, current and non-current;
The annual Women in Aviation, International celebrity breakfast on Friday morning on the EAA AirVenture grounds.
"It's exciting to have the opportunity to work with EAA to give visibility to the thousands of women who share a passion for aviation with the hundreds of thousands of men throughout the country," said Dr. Peggy Chabrian, WAI president. "Women work in all aspects of aviation and at every level, but the growth potential for women in aviation is astounding."

FMI: www.airventure.org/womenventure

RetroNews: All-female crew completes inflight refueling over Iraq

3/18/2008, US AIr Force website: All-female crew completes inflight refueling over Iraq
by Senior Airman Carolyn Viss
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

3/18/2008 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- An all-female crew of three women deployed to Southwest Asia flew an in-flight refueling mission together in a KC-135 Stratotanker in honor of National Women's History Month March 18 over Iraq.

Maj. Leslie Picht, the aircraft commander; 1st Lt. Cindy Dawson, the co-pilot; and Senior Airman Killian Lange, the boom operator refueled an A-6 and two Navy F-18 Hornets supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

They are all deployed to the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron in Southwest Asia.

Maj. Adrian Byers, the 340th EARS director of operations, said he enjoys scheduling crew members to fly together in conjunction with heritage months because it reminds the unit -- and, hopefully, the world -- of the progress that's been made by the people who came before us.

"I have noticed a change in operations for women in theater," Major Picht said. "Five years ago, when I was a co-pilot deployed to Saudia Arabia, female pilots or boom operators sometimes could not get controllers to acknowledge them on the radios. I would intentionally lower my voice for radio calls to prevent any problems. All-female crews were intentionally avoided to prevent problems with support for diverting aircraft. These things have definitely changed in the last few years. It's nice to see our progress in racial and gender equality is not just a national progression, but we are now changing the norms internationally by our presence."

Perhaps proof of that change, the two more junior-ranking women said their experiences as female pilots haven't been difficult or fraught with gender-based obstacles to overcome. The military has come a long way since the 1950s when women were taught how to wear makeup in boot camp.

And the fact that they're female fliers isn't too surprising to most people today either.

"Most people, especially civilians, assume when you say 'Air Force' that you fly planes anyway, so it's not really shocking to them," Airman Lange said. This is her third deployment in the three years she's served. "I never thought I'd be in the military, but once I became interested in joining, I knew I wanted to do a flying job."

She said she doesn't really think of what she does as "something amazing" until she sees Air Force recruiting commercials and talks to her friends and family about her job. Then, "getting other people's input makes me realize how cool it is."

RetroNews:Women in Aviation Hall of Fame Spotlight - Margaret Ringenberg

Aero-News.net, 16 Mar 2008: Women in Aviation Hall of Fame Spotlight - Margaret Ringenberg

Who Wants to Ride with a Girl Pilot?
By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas
The 2008 WAI Hall of Fame has four inductees this time out; Nancy Harkness Love, Major Nicole Malachowski, Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock, Margaret Ringenberg and one group - The Women's Section of the Air Transport Auxiliary.

This article will spotlight Margaret Ringenberg. Ringenberg was introduced to the lure of aviation at an early age. At age seven, she took a flight with a barnstormer, and by 1940, she had her pilot license in hand. She went on to serve as a WASP (Women's AirForce Service Pilots), flying BT-13's, AT-6's, PT-19's and UC-78's.

She co-piloted B-24's and C-54's.

"There was a job to be done and they had asked me to do it," Ringenberg says. "What an honor to be able to serve my country and to fly."

Looking back now, the realization hits ther hat the WASP's paved the way for other female aviators to follow. Ringenberg, back then, certainly had no idea how important the WASP contribution would become to female aviators. She never thought beyond doing her job for her country.

"I'm just absolutely overwhelmed by all this attention."

Ringenberg grew up on a farm, and had never dreamed of the life she led with the WASP's. "I was devastated when we got the orders as of Dec 20, 1944 that 'you're no longer needed.'" explains Ringenberg. When many of the WASP's went back to being housewives, Ringenberg continued with flying. She returned home and went down to the field where she had originally learned to fly.

She received her Flight Instructor certificate in March 1945 and promptly had no students.

"Who wants to ride with a girl pilot?" noted Ringenberg. While she waited for students, she would mow the lawn, repair Cub fabric, answer the phones, and even send letters. "I was at the airport and I was happy to do it," says Ringenberg. "Eventually I started picking up students, and pretty soon my schedule got full."

"It is a great honor," Ringenberg says about being elected into the WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame. "My family is very, very happy about it." Ringenberg was nominated by one of her local area 99's, which thrilled her, since it was a friend.

Ringenberg has a chapter of her own in Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation. When a phone call came, saying Tom Brokaw wanted to use her story in a book, she thought it was some local friends playing a trick. Ringenberg decided to play along. Even after an hour-long phone interview, she was still convinced it was her friends. An in-person interview was planned and when the interviewers didn't materialize at the appointed time, Ringenberg was glad she hadn't told anyone. But, then a strange car drove up with Brokaw's lead man.

Ringenberg was surprised.

Ringenberg spoke to Brokaw, even giving him a flight lesson, which was taped and ended up as a news clip. Ringenberg remembers the experience, by noting that, "I got three minutes on the Nightly News - unbelievable!"

Still active in flying, including air racing and speaking, Rinenberg advises her listeners to "Go for your dreams." Rinenberg noted that most of her dreams that have come true, have started with a simple phone call, so for her next adventure, she says "I'm going to wait on the phone to ring"

FMI: http://www.girlscanfly.net/AboutMargaret.html

Monday Book: Daughter of the Air, by Rob Simbeck

Daughter of the Air: The Brief Soaring Life of Cornelia Fort, by Rob Simbeck
Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999
239 pages plus Acknowledgments and Notes, Sources and Bibliography, and Index. 8 pages of b&w photos

Description
Cornelia Fort's (1919-1943) career as one of America's first demale army pilots took her far from home-to Hawaii and later to Delaware and California as a member of the WAFS, the first women's flight squadron. In a remarkable coincidence of fate, she was in the air at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Throughout her short, extraordinary life she recorded her experiences in eloquent letters.

When Cornelia Fort fell in love with flying, she was forced to defy her family-one of Nashville's oldest and most prominent-and social pressure in order to become an aviator. But from the moment she first set foot in a plane, she found a consuming passion and a mission in life. With a love of flying and a lust for life, Cornelia Fort, like Beryl Markham and Amelia Earhart, came to personify the female pilot.

In Daughter of the Air, author Rob Simbeck interweaves Cornelia Fort's own eloquent letters and diaries with historical documents and interviews of those who knew and flew with her to create a vivid portrait of this courageous woman. Daughter of the Air tells both Cornelia's remarkable story - a life shaped by bravery, intelligence and charm-and the political and social atmosphere of the day.

The Table of contents does not have named chapters.

Ruth Law - a storyteller's story

The storyteller is Nancy Marie Payne (http://nancymariepayne.blogspot.com)
For those who can't see the embedded video, here's a bit of info about Ruth Law:
Ruth Bancroft Law (1887 - 1970) was a pioneer aviatrix during the 1910s. She received her pilot's license in November 1912. Her brother was the famous parachutist & pioneer movie stuntman Rodman Law (1885-1919).

In 1915 she gave a demonstration of aerobatics at Daytona Beach before a large crowd. She announced that she was going to "loop the loop" for the first time, and proceeded to do so, not once but twice, to the consternation of her husband Charles Oliver.

In spring 1916 she took part in an altitude competition, twice narrowly coming second to male fliers. She was furious, determined to set a record that would stand against men as well as women.

Her greatest feat took place on 19 November 1916, when she smashed the existing cross-country distance flying record of 452 miles set by Victor Carlstrom by flying non-stop from Chicago to New York State, a distance of 590 miles. The next day she flew on to New York City with an Army lieutenant named Henry "Hap" Arnold as a passenger. Flying over Manhattan, her fuel cut out, but she coolly glided to a safe landing on Governors Island.

She was the toast of the city, President Woodrow Wilson attended a dinner held in her honour on 2 December 1916.

When the USA entered World War I in 1917, she campaigned unsuccessfully for women to be allowed to fly military aircraft. Stung by her rejection, she wrote an article entitled "Let Women Fly!" in the magazine Air Travel, where she argued that success in aviation should prove a woman's fitness for work in that field.

Sunday book: West to the Sunrise, by Grace Harris

West to the Sunrise, by Grace Harris
Iowa State University Press, 1980
209 pages, no index. A few b&w photos scattered throughout the book

Description
Grace Harris is one of those rare people who made her dreams become a reality. Ever since her first exposure to airplanes - a ride with a barnstorming pilot in a World WAr I "Jenny"-the thrill of flight has never left her. That initial flight was only the start of an adventurous life and illustrious career not only in aviation, but also ballooning, motor racing, and business. Her experiences, as told in West to the Sunrise, provides fascinating reading and present a first-hand story of aviation from Pear Harbor to the present.

Harris recalls all the tension and drama of airplane racing. She describes her feelings after winning the Kendall trophy at the 1948 National Air Races for women in Cleveland and then repeating her victory in 1949. She also introduces the reader to such aviation notables as Jimmy Doolittle, Jacqurline Cochran and Arlene Davis.

Joining the Sports Car Club in 1955, Harris drove an English Elva MKII and an Italian Maserati 200 S to the championship of the women's division Midwest Region in 1958, 1959 and 1960. Another part of her life was spent amidst the smoke and noise of competitive auto racing in such places as England, the French Riviera, and Monte Carlo.

Also, Harris was the first F.A.A.-licensed balloonist in the United States. Anyone who has ever risen in a hot-air balloon or wished they could will enjoy her vivid portrayal.

West to The Sunrise is a true-to-life adventure story as told by a champion woman pilot and racing car driver. Aviation and auto racing buffs of all ages will enjoy her captivating tales that span an era of rapid development of our flying and driving machines.

Table of Contents
Foreword by Major Brooke E. Allen, retired
Preface
1. Takeoff
2. The War Years
3. Wet WAter - Dry Desert
4. Pylon Polishing
5. Wreaths of Victory and Sorrow
6. The Glamourous World of Motor Racing
7. Federation Aeronautique Internbationale
8. Water, Water Everywhere
9. The Silent World
10. Spaghetti and Swiss Chocolate
11. Mexico City and Tel Aviv
12. Oktoberfest in Munich
13. Behind the Iron Curtain
14. Holding Pattern

Amelia Earhart, by Kathleen C. Winters

Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon, by Kathleen C. Winters
Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
216 pages plus references, bibliography and index
Library: B EARHA,A

Description
When Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during an attempted around-the-world flight, she was at the height of her fame: Adored by the public, she counted celebrities and politicians among her many friends and was idolized by women across the globe. She remains a fondly remembered object of fascination today, as her mysterious disappearance continues to inspire fevered speculation and regular attempts to locate her crash site.

This nuanced and often surprising biography by acclaimed aviation historian Kathleen C. winters moves beyong the caricature of the spunky, preternaturally gifted pilot to give us a more complex portrait of Earhart.

Drawing on a wealth of interviews, flight records, and other extensive new evidence, this book traces Amelia's unconventional childhood as the daughter of a spendthrift railroad lawyer and recounts her growing passion for aviation, her rocky first flights, and the remarkable series of events that transformed her into a household name almost overnight.

It shows us a spirited adventuress and flawed heroine who was frequently reckless and lacked basic navigation skills, but who was also a canny manipulator of mass media. Even as other spectacular pilots went unnoticed by the public, Earhart and her husband - the publisher and impresario George Putnam-worked to establish her as an international celebrity, devising ever-more daring stants that culminated in her infamous last flight. Sympathetic yet unsentimental, and filled with gripping accounts of Earhart's exploits, this biography helps us to see a global icon with fresh eyes.