Katherine Cheung: First licensed Asian-American aviatrix (1932.) In 1935, she obtained an international airline license and flew as a commercial pilot.
Jerrie Cobb: Set four world aviation records for speed and distance, and two for altitude. Cobb was selected in 1959 as the first woman to undergo astronaut selection tests. She passed all three phases of the tests, but was not allowed to fly into space because of her gender.
Amelia Earhart: First woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (1928) and later became first woman to fly across the Atlantic and the Pacific; co-founder of the Ninety-Nines; first person to attempt an around-the-world flight at the Equator but her plane vanished near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean (1937.)
Mary Feik: During World War II, became an expert on several fighter planes, and is credited with becoming the first female engineer in research and development for the Air Technical Service Command. She flew more than 5,000 hours as a B-29 flight engineer, engineering observer and pilot in fighter, attack, bomber, cargo and training aircraft.
Marion P. Jayne: The only U.S. pilot to have raced her airplane in two competitions around the world. Jayne and her daughter, Pat Keefer, received the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Medals for winning the longest race in history -- 24 days around the world.
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Anne Morrow Lindbergh: The first American woman to earn a glider pilot's license. Today, the wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh is best known as a writer.
Navy Women Navigators of WWII: Many women became Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). These women were sent for celestial navigation training to replace the men for combat or Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) duty.
Louise McPhetridge Thaden: First U.S. woman to break female altitude record by reaching an altitude of more than 20,000 feet. In 1929, she set a solo flight endurance record for women of more than 22 hours and a women's speed record of 156 miles per hour. Thaden was the first and only woman to hold all three records simultaneously.
Jeana Yeager: With partner Dick Rutan flew the history-making flight in the Voyager, flying the maximum circumference of the globe in nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds, beginning Dec. 14, 1986.
Source: Women in Aviation International Web page.
