Women in Aviation

On May 4, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Mock with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Exception Service Decoration and she became the first American and the first woman to receive the FAI’s Louis Bleriot Silver Medal.

The Cessna 180 became a four-place high-wing plane with a top speed of 165 mph. The aircraft has a wingspan of 11 meters (36 feet). Mock affectionately called her plane “Charlie”.

Mock and Baumeister prepared the Cessna for long-distance flight by installing a new 225 hp engine, radio direction finders, a long range HF radio, and dual VHF NAV/Coms. Two extra fuel tanks were installed in place of passenger seats that added 183 gallons of fuel.

In 1993, Barbara Harmer became the first qualified female Concorde pilot and later that year made her first Concorde flight for British Air as First Officer. In 2001, an Air France Pilot, Beatrice Vialle, had become the second of only two women to fly the Concorde.

Power for the Concorde was provided by four Olympus turbojet engines built by Rolls-Royce and SNECMA. Each Concorde smoothly transitioned to supersonic flight with no discernable disturbance to the passenger. 

The Concorde was so fast that the aircraft's aluminum skin would heat up to over 120 degrees Celsius while the Concorde expanded 8 inches in length with the interior of the window gradually growing warm to the touch. 

In service, the Concorde would cruise at twice the speed of sound between 55,000 and 60,000 feet - so high that passengers could actually see the curvature of the Earth. Transatlantic flight time was cut in half.

Lockheed’s clandestine “Skunk Works” division designed the A-12, the first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles. Experience gained from the A-12 program led to Lockheed constructing the SR-71.

After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the name “Blackbird” for its color. The black paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft.

Eileen Collins was first to do the shuttle 360-degree pitch maneuver for inspection of the shuttle TPS tiles. The surface of Discovery is covered with silica tiles. Reusable surface insulation protected the orbiter from the fierce heat of reentry. 

The crew hatch was the entry and exit point. The hatch was sealed for spaceflight and spacewalkers used an internal airlock for trips outside the cabin.

The program was shut down by US Vice President Lyndon Johnson on the basis of gender. Eileen Collins, the first female Mission Commander, invited some of the Mercury 13 to the launch of her mission.

Alan B. Shepard, Jr., hoped to fly this Mercury capsule on orbital mission MA-10, which was later cancelled. Shepard had the name Freedom 7 II painted on the spacecraft.

The Mercury Capsule 15B includes the silver and black retrorocket package used to slow the capsule for return to earth. 

The Mercury Capsule 15B includes the nose section containing the parachutes for the capsule’s return to earth.

Coleman was also the first American to hold an International Pilot’s license. She returned to the US and became a barnstorming pilot, flying mainly Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplanes. This aircraft represents the types of aircraft she flew.

Principal design changes for the JN-4D included ailerons only on the upper wing, and curved cut-outs on the inner trailing edges of all four wing panels. This last change provided easier cockpit entry and egress.

This aircraft was briefly in use as a U.S. Air Service trainer in New York. The serial number of this aircraft marks it as among the first twenty-five JN-4Ds shipped to the U.S. Air Service in 1918.

In August 1948, a young woman named Betty Skelton bought the Pitts Special and named it Little Stinker. Skelton first flew solo at age 12 and went on to set numerous records for aerobatics, speed, and altitude.

Skelton won the Feminine International Aerobatic Championship three times from 1948 to 1950. She established more combined aviation and automotive records than any other in history. In 1959 she was the first woman to go through NASA’s astronaut testing program.

The Little Stinker is the oldest surviving Pitts Special.

Skelton made several changes to the Pitts Special including replacing the original Aeromatic propeller with a fixed-pitch McCauley.

The single-piece wing with a racy sunburst paint scheme evoked speed and agility to those watching from the ground. The 6.5-degree sweep to the wing added stability and allowed the pilot to access the cockpit more easily.

After Walter Beech's death in 1950, his wife and co-founder, Olive Ann, became president and chairwoman of Beech. As president and chairwoman, the company became involved in the space program.

Beech was known as the “First Lady of Aviation” as she earned more awards, honorary appointments, and special citations than any woman in aviation history.

The King Air design bridged the gap between piston-power and jet aircraft using turboprop engines. This aircraft is an early model with the Queen and King Air designations, 65-90, meaning it was a Queen Air 88 design upgraded with P&W Canada PT6A-6 engines.

Two turboprop engines with three-blade Hartzell propellers gave the King Air a top ceiling of 27,400 feet and a range of 1,565 miles at 270 mph. Piston-powered aircraft could not match this performance.