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In the early days of commercial air flight, airlines struggled to turn a profit and remain afloat. The United States government, hoping to foster the success of commercial airlines, met this challenge by using airplanes to move mail across the country.

The mid-1930s were a difficult time for airlines. To survive in these challenging times, airlines needed bigger, better, and faster airplanes that could profitably fly passengers as well as mail. By the mid-1930s, the first modern, high-performance airliners were taking to the air. 

In 1929, a group of 99 women pilots decided to form an organization for social, recruitment, and business purposes. Living in a society that limited women's social and economic independence, these group formed for women to mutually support each other in the aviation profession. Thus the Ninety-Nines were born.

Brown made history again and again as a pilot, civil rights advocate, and leader. 

Coleman was the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license, facing racist and sexist obstacles in the process.

Pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman's life and legacy aren’t just limited to aviation. In the air and on the ground, she made history.

In Chicago, the Challenger Air Pilots Association cultivated a community that has since helped thousands of Black pilots learn how to fly. 

Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, hosted the Lindberghs for three weeks in the summer of 1933 and one of their stops was the southern town of Julianehaab, now known as Qaqortoq.

In 1896, Ethiopians had turned back an Italian invasion at Adwa (Adowa), serving as an example of a Black-led country’s defiance of Europe. Taking inspiration from Ethiopia’s long history as an independent Black nation, two Black aviators—Hubert Julian and John C. Robinson—were drawn to Ethiopia by the events of 1935.

Women in the United States have long served their country and women aviators have been no exception.  Perhaps the best known efforts are those of the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP), formed in 1943, merging the Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron and Women’s Flying Training Detachment.  But before the WASP, women pilots, such as Ruth Law, Opal Kunz, Florence “Pancho” Barnes, and Mary Charles were determined to serve their country in whatever way they could.