In the beginning of the twentieth century, women were
demanding more freedom. What could bring more freedom
than a chance to fly? Women went up in those early wire-andfabric contraptions to gain independence, to make money, or to make their names as pilots. They sought to prove that women pilots could do just as well as men–and some did far better. Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation tells the story of Blanche Stuart Scott, who made $5,000 a week and
broke forty-one bones; of Harriet Quimby, who flew the English Channel handily and then fell to her death in five feet of water near Boston Harbor; of Ruth Law and Katherine Stinson, who set American distance flying records–all before any of them were allowed to vote. Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation also tells the tales of women behind the scenes–the financiers, engineers, and factory workers–from the earliest days of flying to victory in World War II. These stories of the first female flyers are told in rare, vintage photographs, many previously unpublished, from the archives of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.