Home Throwback Herstories

Herstories

True stories of women in flight.

MARGOT DUHALDE SOTOMAYOR

“Women have always had to fight twice as much. They’ve always had to carry two loads, one of which is private and the other public. Women are the back bone of society.” Rita Levi-Montalcini. Female aviators from the past are a recurring theme in our...

GABRIELLA “GABY” ANGELINI

As was the case for many young women born into middle-class families at the beginning of 1900s, Gabriella ‘Gaby’ Angelini had a piano teacher and attended a ballet school in Milan. But she would dream of aeroplanes twirling in the clouds rather than a ballerina...

ROSINA FERRARIO

We’d like to dedicate today’s article to all those women who’ve ever been told: ‘Forget about it, that’s boy stuff’ Rosina Ferrario was born in 1888 into a wealthy family in Milan. Those were the years of the Industrial Revolution and the Italian National Exhibition, where...

MARILYN AND THE AEROPLANES

How much do we really know about Marilyn Monroe? Who was Norma Jeane Mortenson Baker? How many of us know that her modelling and acting career related to aeroplanes? Platinum blonde hair. Angelic features. A profile able to turn the heads of sportsmen, intellectuals...

JACQUELINE “JACKIE” COCHRAN

Many women throughout history have broken down barriers. Barriers made of bias and obstacles to freedom, barriers between dreams and possibilities. The American aviatrix Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Cochran is a woman who broke down all these barriers, plus another one besides: the sound barrier. She got married...

ELLEN CHURCH: THE FIRST FEMALE FLIGHT ATTENDANT

Ellen_Church
On 22 September, 1904, a woman was born in a small town in rural Iowa. She’d later make aviation history and change women’s role in the world of work. Ellen Church was a child with a big personality and a head full of dreams who...

HARRIET QUIMBY

It is with great pleasure that we dedicate today’s article to Harriet Quimby, an aviation pioneer who did not receive anywhere near as much attention as she should have. It is a shame that aviation history has not dedicated a place of honour to this...

BESSIE COLEMAN

If during the 1920s becoming a pilot was quite an undertaking for any woman, imagine what would have been like for an African-American woman. Bessie Coleman was born in 1892 in one of the worst places for a woman like her to pursue her ambitions:...

FIORENZA DE BERNARDI

Fiorenza De Bernardi was Italy’s first female aeroplane pilot (and the fourth in the world). When she was just a little girl in the 1930s, Fiorenza was able to identify the different aircraft models simply by listening to the sound of their engines. She had always...

AMY JOHNSON

To fully understand how important Amy Johnson’s venture was considering that she was born back in 1903, we need to first think about the historical context. For the United Kingdom, the year 1918 represents the year of women’s suffrage, which was granted only to...