Melody Millicent Danquah

Melody Millicent Danquah (1937 to 2016) was a Ghanaian pilot, among the first women pilots in Ghana and one of the earliest in Africa. Born in Larteh Akuapem, she was chosen around the end of 1963 as one of the first three women to train as pilots in the Ghana Air Force. She flew solo for the first time on 22 June 1964 in a de Havilland Canada Chipmunk, and she and Ayele Kome received their wings from the Minister of Defence, Kofi Baako, on 15 April 1965. She ended her flying career in June 1968, then did administrative work until she was discharged in 1984 because of ill health. Afterwards she worked briefly for the World Food Programme and the National Service Secretariat, earned a diploma in Bible studies and theology at sixty, and joined the board of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. In 2006 she was made a Companion of the Order of the Volta.