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TIMELINE
1910's	1910	Bessie Raiche	First woman to fly solo. She flew in an airplane her husband build of bamboo, wire and silk.
	1911	Harriet Quimby	First U.S. woman to receive a pilot's license. More on Harriet Quimby More on Harriet Quimby 2
	1912	Harriet Quimby	First woman to fly solo across the English Channel. More on Harriet Quimby More on Harriet Quimby 2
	1913	Ruth Law Bancroft	First woman to fly at night.
	1914	Katherine Stinson	First woman to fly a loop (Cicero Field, Chicago, IL). More on Katherine Stinson
	1917	Katherine Stinson	Set flight endurance record of 9 hours and 10 minutes. More on Katherine Stinson
	1918	Anna Low	First Chinese-American, female aviator who flew in the San Francisco, CA region.
1920's	1921	Bessie Coleman	First African-American female aviator to qualify for an international pilot's license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. More on Bessie Coleman More on Bessie Coleman 2
	1924	Ruth Nichols	First woman to earn an international hydroplane license.
	1929	Ninety-Nines founded	Women pilots form this female aviators club with Amelia Earhart as president. The name comes from the fact that out of 126 female licensed pilots, 99 of them joined.
	1929	Elinor Smith	Sets solo flight endurance record of 13 hours and 16 minutes.
	1929	Bobbi Trout	First woman to fly all night. More on Bobbi Trout
1930's	1930	Florence Klingensmith	First woman to set loop record for 143 consecutive loops.
	1931	Anne Morrow Lindbergh	First woman to earn a glider pilot's license. More on Anne Morrow Lindbergh
	1932	Olive Beech	Helps to found, with her husband, Beech Aircraft Corporation
	1932	Kathryn Cheung	First Chinese-American female to earn a U.S. pilot's license. Photo
	1932	Amelia Earhart	First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (in just under 15 hours). More on Amelia Earhart More on Amelia Earhart 2 More on Amelia Earhart 3 More on Amelia Earhart 4
	1932	Ruth Nichols	First woman hired as a pilot for commercial passenger flights, on New York Airways.
	1936	Louise Thaden, pilot Blanche Noyes, co-pilot	First women to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race from Los Angeles, CA to New York City, New York. More on Louise Thaden
	1937	Willa Brown	First African-American woman to earn a commercial pilot's license. More on Willa Brown
	1938	Hanna Reitsch	German WWII test pilot who was the first woman to pilot a helicopter. More on Hanna Reitsch More on Hanna Reitsch 2
1940's	1943	Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)	The government program in which female pilots were used to train the male pilots for combat duty. The U.S. female pilots also ferried airplanes across the Atlantic Ocean for use in combat.
	1944	Ann Baumgartner	First U.S. woman to fly an experimental jet airplane. She reached speeds of 350 mph and altitudes up to 35,000 feet.
	1947	Ann Shaw Carter	First U.S. woman licensed to fly a helicopter.
1950's	1953	Jacqueline Cochran	First woman to break the sound barrier. More on Jacqueline Cochran More on Jacqueline Cochran 2
	1955	Whirley Girls	Female helicopter pilots start their own association.
1960's	1960	Jerrie Cobb	First woman to undergo the testing developed for the selection of the Mercury Astronauts.
	1961	Jacqueline Cochran	First woman to fly the highest to an altitude of 55,253 feet. More on Jacqueline Cochran More on Jacqueline Cochran 2
	1961	Jacqueline Cochran	Established a new altitude record for the T-38 aircraft by flying 56,071 feet. More on Jacqueline Cochran More on Jacqueline Cochran 2
	1964	Jerrie Mock	First woman to fly solo around the world. She made the flight in 29 1/2 days flying 22,860 miles.
1970's	1973	Emily Howell	As second officer for Frontier Airlines, she flies Boeing 737 jets. She is the first woman to do so for a regularly scheduled airline.
	1973	Bonnie Tiburzi	First female jet pilot hired by a major airline, American Airlines.
1980's	1984	Betsy Carroll	First woman to fly a jumbo jet across the Atlantic Ocean for a commercial airline (People Express).
	1986	Jeana Yeager (and Dick Rutan)	First pilots to fly around the world non-stop and non-refueled. They accomplished this in a specially designed aircraft called the Voyager.
1990's	1990	Jean K. Tinsley	First female to fly a tilt rotor aircraft.
	1995	Eileen M. Collins	First female to pilot U.S. space shuttle.
	1999	Eileen M. Collins	First female U.S. space shuttle commander.

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