Betty Gillies

Betty Gillies (1908 to 1998), born Betty Huyler on Long Island, was an American aviator and the first pilot to qualify for the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, later merged into the Women Airforce Service Pilots. She began flying in 1928 while a student nurse in New York, earned her licence in 1929, joined the Ninety-Nines in 1929 and served as its president from 1939 to 1941, fighting the Civil Aeronautics Authority ban on pregnant women flying. In the Second World War she became squadron leader of the WAFS at New Castle Army Air Base in Delaware, was the first woman to fly the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and qualified as a first pilot on the Boeing B-17. After the war she chaired the All Woman Transcontinental Air Race from 1953 to 1961 and was appointed in 1964 to the Federal Aviation Administration's first Women's Advisory Committee. She received a Paul Tissandier Diploma in 1977 and the Elder Statesman of Aviation Award in 1982.