Women Who Fly
Portraits of female pilots
- By Rebecca Maksel
- AirSpaceMag.com, December 19, 2008
Carolyn Russo
Marsha Neal, Aeronaut
Silhouetted outside an inflated hot air balloon. Statesville, North Carolina, 1994.
“It’s fun to land, and, of course, from an advertising perspective we always are trying to fly around the city, landing in neighborhoods. Since it’s relatively calm, when we fly, we can come down, say, in a cul-de-sac or in the middle of a street if the power lines are buried. You can land in people’s driveways and their backyards. It’s just really fun to come in and see the astonished look on people’s faces….
I think I’m almost a purist when it comes to gas ballooning because to me—there’s nothing to compare it to. There’s no burner noise, nothing. The wonderful thing about gas ballooning is that you can fly all day and all night. The most incredible thing flying over the countryside is that you can hear this network of dogs talking to each other. I mean, you can pick up the communication, just sitting up there listening, and you can hear very distinctly any car driving down the road.”
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Comments (5)
It was a great thing the WASPS did during WWII. I was a teenager when Germany and Japan surrendered and remember the great things they did!
Today, not in my Air Force career, women are flying again. This time in combat. Women C-130E crews are flying in Iraq and all the world. When I was flying C-130s I often told my wife "If you want to know where I am just read the headlines in the newspaper." These dedicated ladies are world travelers, just as we were in the 1960s and 1970s, often flying the same C-130 aircraft we flew.
Little has been said about their dedication and valor.
Their stories should be told in depth for posterity.
Posted by Lt.Col. Robert W. Ruffin Ret. on January 1,2009 | 01:49 PM
The women never got the respect for what they done during WW-2. I flew with the RAF when I was 13 years old front gunner in a Wellington Bomber on Atlantic Patrol. I was in the Air Training Corps. We had completed all our training including gunnery and were allowed to fly relatively safe missions when we were out of school in the Summer. Just immagine the thrill at 13 of being behind a pair or .05 twin Browning machine guns in a rotating turret.
We never did see a u-boat, but they were out there.
Years later when I had come to America in my mid 20's I learned to fly and wound up with a Commercial Multi Engine certificate # 1416814.
My greatest pleasure was flying my Luscombe 8A alone at night.
Posted by Robert A. Harbinson on February 19,2009 | 10:25 PM
I want say I am very glad we had women like you flying.Great job. I am 72 years old and retired air force and was in the maintenance area of aircraft.
Posted by charles cummings on December 16,2009 | 10:52 AM
Miss Wanda Brodowich was Winnipeg's first woman pilot,
and the first woman in Canada to get a commercial pilot's licence.
Posted by Edward T.Dolski on March 25,2010 | 01:47 PM
I found this small, old, aviation poster in a folder w/ a bunch of graphics from 1900-1933. There are two women pilots in it and i'd love to find out more about them and what this poster is commemorating. Can you guide me to where i might research it more?
here's pictures of it:
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzSNzgZ
Posted by Pete Veilleux on July 4,2012 | 02:52 PM