With year-round favorable weather and a strategic geographic location, Florida has long been a hub for aviation pioneers. It became the birthplace of the first commercial airline flight and of Pan American World Airways — once the largest international carrier in the U.S. Today, Florida continues to build on its century-long aviation legacy. Cape Canaveral on the east coast is home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, which served as the launch site for the historic Apollo moon missions.
Despite its impressive influence, many of Florida’s contributions to aviation have gone unnoticed, including the groundbreaking achievements of female aviators.
“Female pilots, either born in Florida or from outside of the state who made their mark in Florida, chalked up an impressive list of nonstop flying, altitude, speed, aerobatic, military and space records,” points out Bridges DelPonte, author of “She Soars: Trailblazing Female Pilots in Florida.” “The first female pilots to undertake a night flight, to break the nonstop record from Chicago to New York and from New York to Miami, to break the sound barrier, to win the U.S. National Aerobatic Championship and to command the Space Shuttle are all part of Florida’s aviation history,” she says.
In DelPonte’s book, released Sept. 17, the Punta Gorda, Fla. resident highlights the stories of 14 remarkable female pilots, spanning from the early 1900s to modern times, covering their daring aerial stunts to their contributions during World War II and their work flying jets, commercial planes and space shuttles.
Originally from Canton, Mass., and the middle child in a family of nine kids, DelPonte, 66, has been researching and publishing stories about women breaking legal barriers in the military since the 1980s. Through this work, she discovered the stories of pioneering female pilots.
DelPonte is particularly fascinated by The Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), who ferried 77 different aircraft during the war. Despite their crucial role, they had to fight for three decades to receive veteran status, which has finally granted in 1977. It wasn’t until 2010, DelPonte explains, when the surviving WASPs were in their 80s and 90s, that they were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor.
Also spotlighted in the book is Florida-born Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran, who rose from poverty to international aviation fame, setting more speed, altitude and distance records than any pilot in the world by the 1960s.
“Their courage, skill and resilience are truly inspiring, and they were role models for many contemporary female pilots,” DelPonte adds.
“She Soars: Trailblazing Female Pilots in Florida” is a finalist for a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association in the history category. The award ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 19 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
For more information, visit bridgesdelponte.wordpress.com.
