Women in Aviation Gallery
Photo: Unknown, public domain (cropped)
A stop on Hiller Aviation Museum: Unofficial Guide, a free self-guided tour.
Women have been part of aviation from its start, though often overlooked.
Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, in 1932, disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 on an attempt to fly around the world. Bessie Coleman, who had to go to France to learn to fly because no American school would teach a Black woman, became the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license, in 1921. Jacqueline Cochran led the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, during World War II. More than 1,000 women flew military aircraft within the United States, ferrying planes and towing targets. They were not recognized as veterans until 1977.
Cochran later became the first woman to break the sound barrier, in 1953.
Look for their stories in the museum's exhibits.
More on Wikipedia: Amelia Earhart · Bessie Coleman · Jacqueline Cochran · Women Airforce Service Pilots
Stops on this tour
- Boeing 747-100 Cockpit and Forward Fuselage
- Hiller Flying Platform
- Boeing Condor High-Altitude Reconnaissance UAV
- NASA AD-1 Oblique Wing Research Aircraft
- Wright Flyer Replica and Early Flight Exhibit
- Black Diamond - 1910 California Pioneer Aircraft
- Grumman HU-16 Albatross Amphibious Aircraft
- Boeing 737-200 Cockpit
- Flight Sim Zone
- Women in Aviation Gallery
- Aircraft Engine Collection
- Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star
- San Francisco Airport Control Tower Beacon
- Drone Plex and Future of Flight Exhibit
- Michael King Smith Research Library and Museum Store