cover image Women with Wings

Women with Wings

Mary Cadogan. Academy Chicago Publishers, $25 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-89733-385-6

From early balloonists to astronauts, this carefully illustrated and documented collection chronicles the exploits of women aviation pioneers and their many fictional counterparts. Stories about Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Beryl Markham, etc., are interspersed with entertaining anecdotes about lesser-known heroines, including 17-year-old Edwardian waitress and Britain's ``Parachute Queen,'' Dolly Shepherd. In WW II , women served as test pilots in Nazi Germany, combat fighters in the U.S.S.R. and ferry pilots in the U.S. Nevertheless, the author points out, post-war civil aviation has been slower than the military to employ women pilots. Photos. Author tour. (May)