It’s the birthday of Beryl Markham today. She was a horse trainer, pilot, and author (probably) of the memoir West With the Night, which I should read again and you should read too, if you haven’t. (It impressed the hell out of Hemingway.)
She was friends with Karen Blixen, lovers with Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and was the first woman to fly solo from east to west across the Atlantic. Beryl was fierce! Let’s all be more like her.
There is such a rich history of early women aviators! Have you heard of Pancho Barnes and here infamous Happy Bottom Riding Club?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Barnes
She was a brassy, loud-and-foul-mouthed aviation pioneer. She had a long running feud with Amelia Earhart, eventually beating her speed record.