Florida has a long and unique history of being a testing ground for female pilots who broke new ground in aviation. From the early 1900s when women performed daring stunts in the air to the World War II era when they served as WASP pilots to the modern times when they flew military jets, commercial planes, and Space Shuttles, Florida hasbeen a key place for female aviator history. These stories from Florida will highlight 14 of women who made history with their flying skills;and left their mark in the Sunshine State.The remarkable journeys of these trailblazing female aviators are told in a captivating and informative manner.

Bridges DelPonte writes award-winning fiction and nonfiction. She has explored women’s legal challenges in the military and military academies in various publications, and has won her several writing awards, including two National Hoeber Memorial Awards. Her legal mystery, Deadly Sacrifices, won a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association (FWA). Her other works include an underwater fantasy novel, Bridles of Poseidon, a children’s book, The Little Dusties :The Roar of the Silver Dragon (with illustrator,Michelle Bakay), and many short stories in anthologies. She belongs to the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, FWA, Sisters in Crime,Inc.and Citrus Crime Writer. Bridges lives in Punta Gorda Florida.

Introduction

Chapter 1.

Ruth Law – Loops de Loops and Dips of Death on Daytona Beach

• first woman to fly at night
• first to carry official air mail to the Philippines
• first to fly nonstop from Chicago to New York
• performed daring stunts and raised money for the war effort
• bought first airplane for Orville Wright who refused to teach her to fly because women were not mechanically inclined.

Chapter 2.

Dessie Smith Prescott - A Florida-Born Pioneer in the Sky and the Great Outdoors

• First Female Licensed Pilot
• Friend of Marjorie Kinman Rawlings
• served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II and flew planes for the military.

Chapter 3.

Bessie Coleman - Brave Bessie’s Inspiring Career Ends Tragically in Florida

• She was the first African American woman and the first Native American woman to earn a pilot’s license.

• popular stunt flyer and performed in many air shows across the United States.
• Died in Plan Crash in 1929 at age of 34

Chapter 4.

Ruth Nichols – Co-Piloting the First Non-Stop Flight from New York to Miami

• American aviation pioneer who set many records for speed, altitude, and distance for a female pilot.

• founder of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of licensed women pilots, and a friend of Amelia Earhart.
• Press called her the Flying Debutante

Chapter 5.

Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran - From Panhandle Poverty to International Aviation Fame …

• considered to be one of the most gifted race pilots of her generation.

• first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953.
• led the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II, which employed about 1000 civilian American women in a non-combat role to ferry planes from factories to port cities.
• successful business executive and a sponsor of the Mercury 13 women astronaut

Chapter 6.

Betty Skelton – Florida’s First Lady of Aerobatics Speeds into the Record Books

• record-breaking American pilot and auto racer, who was known as the “First Lady of Firsts”.
• set 17 aviation and automobile records, and helped create opportunities for women in aviation, sports, and business.
• first woman to undergo astronaut testing in 1960, although she never went to space1

Chapter 7.

Gladys "Penny" Thompson – Her “Flying Car” Stunt Boosts Women’s Air Shows and Florida Aviation

• an American aviator and women’s intercontinental air race-air show promoter and aviation publisher-editor during the 1940s and early 1950s.
• Inducted into the Florida Aviation Hall of Fame in 1994

Chapter 8.

Capt. Judith Neuffer Bruner (ret. Navy) – A “Hurricane Hunter” Flies into the Eye of the Storm

• NASA manager, who was the first woman to pilot a P-3 aircraft and the first woman to fly through the eye of a hurricane.
• She served 28 years in the US Navy and retired as a captain
• led several large programs at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Died 2022 buried Arlington National Cemetary

Chapter 9.

Capt. Beverley Bass – Call Her Captain in the Cockpit…and on Broadway

• first female captain of an American Airlines commercial plane.
• known for safely diverting her flight to Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001 as part of operation yellow ribbon

Chapter 10.

Capt. Patrice Clarke Washington – Embry Riddle Alum Helps Diversify Commercial Aviation

• first Black woman to graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• first Black woman to serve as captain for a major U.S. airline.
• joined UPS in 1988 as a flight engineer
• became a captain in 1994, flying DC-8s and MD-11s

Chapter 11.

Patty Wagstaff - Three-Time Aerobatic Champ Thinks Outside “The Box” in St. Augustine

• U.S. national aerobatic champion.
• one of the few people to win it three times.
• set numerous records and won many awards in the field of aerobatics.

Chapter 12.

Capt. Linda Pfeiffer Pauwels – A Latina Pilot Marks Firsts in the Cockpit and in Poetry

• first Latina captain at American Airlines
• youngest woman jet captain (cargo) at age 25 on a Boeing 707 in 1988
• Also, a poet and author

Chapter 13.

Lt. Col. Christine Mau Kelley (ret. USAF) – Air Force Pilot Zooms into Aviation History in Fighter Jets

• American fighter pilot and NASA manager, who was the first woman to fly the F-35A Lightning II,
• flew the F-15E Strike Eagle for 16 years, and led the first combat mission planned and flown entirely by women in 2011.
• served 28 years in the US Navy and retired as a captain.
• led several large programs at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
• Died 2022 Buried at Arlington National Cemetary

Chapter 14.

Col. Eileen Collins (ret. USAF) – Don’t All Moms Fly the Space Shuttle?

• American astronaut and Air Force colonel
• first woman to pilot and command a space shuttle.
• flew four shuttle missions, including the first “return to flight” mission after the Columbia disaster in 2005.