SAWIA S O U T H E R N A F R I C A N W O M E N I N AV I AT I O N & A E R O S PA C E I N D U S T RY
I N F O R M . C O N N E C T . M O T I VAT E . I N S P I R E
IN HONOUR OF WOMEN’S MONTH
SAWIA PROFILES & CELEBRATES: PIONEERING WOMEN IN AVIATION & AEROSPACE FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT SAWIA would like to share the long and distinguished history of women in flight! In honour of South Africa’s Women’s Month of August, SAWIA will be profiling and celebrating pioneering African Women in Aviation and Aerospace daily! SOUTH AFRICAN WORLD WAR 2 WOMEN’S AUXILIARY AIR FORCE. There can be few service institutions which owe so much to the tenacity and enterprise - initially within a hostile environment - of a handful of individuals as the WAAF. When one considers that the South African Women’s Aviation Association (or Women’s Civil Air Guard) held its inaugural meeting on 5 December 1938, and its first flight at the Rand Flying Club, Germiston, on 6 March 1939, and when one then considers the role and size of the WAAF during World War II, its development compares most favourably with that of the Royal Air Force (which, as an independent organisation, pre-dated the SAWAA by some 21 years and which, moreover, had extremely influential personalities guiding its development, including General Smuts). Throughout the WAAF’s development - from its origins in the SAWAA to demobilization in 1945 certain personalities recur as dominating forces, moulding and directing its purpose; Maj Marjorie Egerton Bird, Lt Col Doreen Dunning (Hooper), Capt Sybil Starfield, Maj Elaine Percival-Hart, and others. Indeed, this powerful theme of continuity had its distinctly tragic overtones; in so far as Capt Starfield died in the service of women’s aviation. It bears emphasis that the WAAF’s role included duties which were far from sedentary; Rosamund Steenkamp was the first woman to pilot a jet aircraft and, indeed, was killed whilst on flying operations. In a major respect, the efforts of Maj Egerton Bird and her foundercolleagues of the WAAF (as it ultimately became) anticipate by some three decades the struggle for women’s equality which has been such a prominent feature of contemporary social history. SOURCE: http://samilitaryhistory.org
“BESSIE” COLEMAN (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
1 AUGUST 2012. WOMEN IN AVIATION & AEROSPACE: AN HISTORICAL TIMELINE 1784 - ELISABETH THIBLE becomes the first woman to fly - in a hot air balloon. 1798 - JEANNE LABROSSE is the first woman to solo in a balloon. 1809 - MARIE MADELEINE SOPIE BLANCHARD becomes the first woman to lose her life while flying - she was watching fireworks in her hydrogen balloon. 1851 - “MADEMOISELLE DELON” ascends in a balloon in Philadelphia. 1880 - MARY MYERS is the first American woman to solo in a balloon. 1903 - AIDA DE ACOSTA is the first woman to solo in a dirigible. 1906 - E. LILLIAN TODD is the first woman to design and build an airplane, though it never flew. 1908 - MADAME THERESE PELTIER is the first woman to fly an airplane solo. 1910 - BARONESS RAYMONDE DE LAROCHE obtains a license from the Aero Club of France, the first woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license. 1910 - BLANCHE STUART SCOTT, without permission or knowledge of Glenn Curtiss, the airplane’s owner and builder, removes a small wood wedge and is able to get the airplane airborne -- without any flying lessons -- thus becoming the first American woman to pilot an airplane. 1910 - BESSICA RAICHE’S flight qualifies her, for some, as the first woman pilot in America -- because some discount the flight of Scott as accidental and therefore deny her this credit. 1911 - HARRIET QUIMBY becomes the first American woman licensed pilot and the first woman to fly at night. 1912 - HARRIET QUIMBY becomes the first woman to pilot her own aircraft across the English Channel. 1913 - ALYS MCKEY BRYANT is the first woman pilot in Canada.
1914 to 1918 - WORLD WAR I. After World War I, many female pilots flew the Europe to Cape air route. This led to increasing numbers of South African women joining flying clubs, even though the government’s pupil pilot scheme was reserved for men. 1916 - RUTH LAW sets two American records flying from Chicago to New York. 1918 - MARJORIE STINSON - the US postmaster general approves the appointment of Marjorie as the first female airmail pilot. 1919 - RUTH LAW becomes the first person to fly air mail in the Phillipines. 1921 - ADRIENNE BOLLAND is the first woman to fly over the Andes.
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1921 - BESSIE COLEMAN becomes the first African American, male or female, to earn a pilot’s license. 1922 - LILLIAN GATLIN is the first woman to fly across America as a passenger. 1928 - AMELIA EARHART is the first woman to fly across the Atlantic -- Lou Gordon and Wilmer Stultz did most of the flying. 1929 - First Women’s Air Derby is held, and LOUISE THADEN wins, GLADYS O’DONNELL takes second place and AMELIA EARHART takes third. 1929 - FLORENCE LOWE BARNES - Pancho Barnes - becomes the first woman stunt pilot in motion pictures (in “Hell’s Angels”). 1929 - AMELIA EARHART becomes the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an organisation of women pilots. 1930 - May 5-24 - AMY JOHNSON becomes the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. 1930 - ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH becomes the first woman to earn a glider pilot license. 1931 - RUTH NICHOLS fails in her attempt to fly solo across the Atlantic, but she breaks the world distance record flying from California to Kentucky. 1931 - KATHERINE CHEUNG becomes the first woman of Chinese ancestry to earn a pilot’s license. 1932 - MAY 20/21 - AMELIA EARHART is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 1932 - RUTHY TU becomes first woman pilot in the Chinese Army. 1934 - HELEN RICHEY becomes the first woman pilot hired by a regularly schedule airline, Central Airlines. 1934 - JEAN BATTEN is the first woman to fly round trip England to Australia. 1935 - JANUARY 11/23 - AMELIA EARHART is the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the American mainland. 1935 - PHYLLIS DOREEN DUNNING was born in Johannesburg. In July 1935, soon after her 18th birthday, she s she started flying lessons with the Johannesburg Light Plane Club, in Baragwanath. She learnt to fly in a Gipsy Moth (ZS-ADW) and her instructor was Captain Stan Halse who was a RFC pilot in WWI. After two weeks and 9 hours of flying, she earned her A licence and decided to make aviation her career.
AMELIA MARY EARHART (July 24, 1897 – disappeared 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organisation for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the Purdue University Aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman’s Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
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WILLA BROWN. (22 January 1906-18 July 1992), was an American aviatrix and educator. She was the first African American commercial pilot and first African American woman officer in the Civil Air Patrol, helps form the National Airmen’s Association of America to help open up the U.S. Armed Forces to African American men. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
1935 - ROSAMUND KING EVERARD-STEENKAMP was born near Carolina, South Africa in 1907. Rosamund was not only an accomplished artist, but also one of South Africa’s female aviation pioneers. Her career was cut short by her death in a Spitfire demonstration accident in England. She was the first woman to pilot a Spitfire. In August 1945 she became the first woman in the world to pilot a jet aircraft in Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary Service (whilst still holding the rank of Captain in the SAWAAF). She flew a Meteor III jet. 1936 - BERYL MARKHAM becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic east to west. 1936 - LOUISE THADEN and BLANCE NOYES beat male pilots also entered in the Bendix Trophy Race, the first victory of women over men in a race which both men and women could enter. 1937 - FRANCES RHENIA SLABBERT joins the Rand Flying Club and took flying lessons. She earned her A licence in February 1937, in Durban, becoming the first woman to obtain her pilot’s licence in that city. She often acted as piloted for her father on business trips. During WWII she was attached to the Communication Squadron of the SAWAAF. 1938 - HANNA REITSCH becomes the first woman to fly a helicopter and the first woman to be licensed as a helicopter pilot. 1938 - URSULA “DUFFY” SMITH was born in Port Elizabeth in 1921. In 1938 she took up powered flight and had to wait until August 1938, on her 17th birthday to go solo, becoming one of the youngest qualified pilots in the British Empire and Commonwealth. Ursula was in university when WWII broke out, so she joined the SAWAAF and trained pilots in a Link simulator. She was a navigation instructor and a member of the Port Elizabeth Aero Club. 1938 - SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN’S AVIATION ASSOCIATION (WOMEN’S CIVIL AIR GUARD) holds its inaugural meeting on 5 December 1938, and its first flight at the Rand Flying Club, Germiston, on 6 March 1939.
1939 to 1945 - WORLD WAR II. World War II saw the SAAF grow from 10 officers, 35 officer cadets, 1,600 men of other ranks and 100 aircraft in 1939 to a force of 31,204 servicemen, including nearly 1,000 pilots and at least 1,700 aircraft, in 1941. In 1944 the South African Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (SAWAAF) consisted of 6,500 members. By 1945, the SAAF had more than 45,000 personnel. More than 10,000 women served in the SAWAAF during the war. 1939 - WILLA BROWN, first African American commercial pilot and first African American woman officer in the Civil Air Patrol, helps form the National Airmen’s Association of America to help open up the U.S. Armed Forces to African American men.
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1939 - SEPTEMBER 15 - JACQUELINE COCHRAN sets an international speed record; the same year, she is the first woman to make a blind landing 1941 - JULY 1 - JACQUELINE COCHRANE is the first woman to ferry a bomber across the Atlantic 1941 - MARINA RASKOVA appointed by Soviet Union high command to organise regiments of women pilots. 1942 - NANCY HARKNESS LOVE and JACKIE COCHRAN organise women flying units and training detachments. 1943 - Women make up more than 30% of the work force in the aviation industry. 1943 - LOVE’S and COCHRAN’S units are merged into the Women Airforce Service Pilots and Jackie Cochran becomes the Director of Women Pilots -- WASPs flew more than 60 million miles before the program ended in December 1944, with only 38 lives lost of 1830 volunteers and 1074 graduates. 1945 - MELITTA SCHILLER is awarded the Iron Cross and Military Flight Badge in Germany. 1953 - JACQUELINE (JACKIE) COCHRAN becomes first woman to break the sound barrier. 1963 - VALENTINA VLADIMIROVNA TERESHKOVA is a Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space. 1964 - MARCH 19 - GERALDINE (JERRIE) MOCK is the first woman to pilot a plane around the world. 1969 - “KUCKI” LOW (NEE. VON GERLACH) attained her private pilot’s license in early 1969 at the age of 23, the first woman to do so in Namibia. She went on to become the first female commercial airline pilot in South Africa. 1973 - JANUARY 29 - EMILY HOWELL WARNER is the first woman working as a pilot for a commercial airline (Frontier Airlines). 1974 - MARY BARR becomes the first woman pilot with the Forest Service. 1974 - JUNE 4 - SALLY MURPHY is the first woman to qualify as an aviator with the U.S. Army. 1978 - International Society of Women Airline pilots formed. 1980 - LYNN RIPPELMEYER becomes the first woman to pilot a Boeing 747. 1982 - JANE TREMBATH is a captain on the Airbus 340 - the first woman pilot in South Africa to command long-range international flights. It is a long way from the two-seater aircraft she learnt to fly in 1982! Jane joined her airline in 1988, aged 23. 1983 - SALLY RIDE was America’s first woman astronaut. Her first flight on board the space shuttle Challenger in June 1983 came 20 years to the month after the Soviet Union had launched the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, on their sixth mission. At the age of 32, Ride was also the US’s youngest astronaut to go into space. 1984 - BEVERLY BURNS becomes the first woman to captain a 747. cross country, and Lynn Rippelmeyer becomes the first woman to captain a 747 across the Atlantic -- sharing the honor, thereby, of being the first female 747 captains. 1988 - MARGARET VILJOEN (NEE THORNTON SMITH) in January 1988 she started her PPL at the East Rand Flying Club in Springs. She passed her PPL test in June 1989, and passed the Commercial Licence theory exams in October 1989. In December 1989 South African Airways advertised for candidates for their very first Cadet Pilot Training scheme. Margaret applied, and was one of 10 successful candidates. She completed her CPL
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training with SAA in September 1990, and was then offered her first job flying King Air 200s for National Airlines on their scheduled services, eventually moving over to the charter section of National Airways to fly Barons and King Air 200s. In March 1996 Margaret joined Comair as a First Officer on ATR42s, moving over to the right hand seat of the Boeing 727-200 in September 1997. In March 2000, Margaret was offered her Command on Boeing 727s. The B727s were retired from service in 2003, and she moved over to the Boeing 737 fleet. At much the same time, Margaret was appointed as a Check Captain for Comair. She is South Africas first female airline captain. 1994 - VICKI VAN METER is the youngest pilot (to that date) to fly across the Atlantic in a Cessna 210 - she is 12 years old at the time of the flight. 1994 - APRIL 21 - JACKIE PARKER becomes the first woman to qualify to fly an F-16 combat plane. 1995 - THE SOUTH AFRICAN AIRFORCE first women were selected for pilot training in the SAAF: Renét Venter, Lisl Bennett, Tanya Livingston, Velma Scholz, Kerryn Swemmer and Francis (Frankie) Bester. 1998 - ASNATH MAHAPE was SAA’s first black female pilot trainee after she successfully completed her multi-engine and instrument rating training in 2003. Asnath already held two pilot’s licences obtained through Progress Flight Academy in Port Elizabeth, when she entered SAA’s cadet pilot training programme. In 1999, she was the first black woman to obtain her commercial pilot’s licence through Progress Flight Academy. A year later, with 200 flying hours, she joined the SAAF where she spent two years in ground school. Finally she was accepted as a student by SAA. Asnath obtained her Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence in 2003. She was nominated for the 2003 Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year Award. 2001 - POLLY VACHER becomes the first woman to fly around the world in a small plane - she flies from England to England on a route that includes Australia. 2004 - ANNABEL MACAULEY the first black female pilot, and later instructor, in the South African Air Force. 2005 - REFILWE LEDWABA becomes the first black female helicopter pilot with the South African Police Service Air Wing. 2007 - SIBONGILE SAMBO, SRS AVIATION (PTY) LTD is South Africa’s first, and only, fully empowered, black women-owned and operated airborne services business. 2010 - MAJOR CATHERINE LABUSCHAGNE completed her maiden solo flight in the South African Air Force’s Gripen Jas 39C in October, becoming the first woman fighter pilot ever to fly the supersonic aircraft. 2012 - LIU YANG becomes the first woman launched by China into space.
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