Women in Aviation- Prescott Chapter

Ice cream social and scholarship workshop put on by WAI on Tuesday, October 4, 2022. Great to see such a great mix of students turn out for this evening event!

Three amazing officers of WAI prepped and ready for a funding presentation this afternoon! Megan, Zoe, and Stephanie did a fantastic job!

The keynote speaker for our 2022 Girls in Aviation Day (Dr. Sarah Nilsson) was awesome and the entire day was off the charts spectacular thanks to WAI Anna Fudenberg and her amazing team of volunteers! Kyle Wilkerson rocked the ATC Lab tour as did Adolfo Ibarra for the Crash Lab tour. Kudos to the UAS lab/field team for their drone exhibit and special thanks to the Meteorology WX Club and engineering faculty for hosting an activity table. The day wrapped up with a Planetarium show and flight line tour. Love our Eagles and their commitment to everything related to aviation! Special shout out to Prif. Vicci Tusa - best partner in crime ever!!

Awesome start of our Girls in Aviation Day event! 2022

🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: Mildred "Micky" Axton Makes Aviation History: First to Pilot the B-29

Mildred "Micky" Axton, of Coffeyville Kansas, earned her pilot's license in 1940 and was the only woman in her class in the Civilian Pilot Training program at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

In 1943 Micky joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) 43-W-7 training class. After graduation she was assigned to Pecos Army Airfield Base in Texas. She was one of the first three Women Airforce Service Pilots to be trained as a test pilot as well as a ferry pilot. In 1944 she left the WASP program and went to work at the Boeing Aircraft Plant in Wichita Kansas as a flight test engineer.

According to the Boeing Aircraft Archives: "On May 4, 1944, she was one of the crew of nine aboard "Sweet Sixteen," the 16th of 1,644 B-29s rolled out from the Wichita plant.

"I was back in the aft flight blister when Elton Rowley (chief of engineering flight test) called back over the intercom and said, 'Micky, how'd you like to come and fly this thing?' I was just absolutely in hog heaven!" she recalled.

"So I put my parachute on my back and crawled through the tunnel which was over the bomb bay, to the front. He gave me the left seat and I flew the plane," Axton said. "The problem was, it was all so top secret. I could only tell my husband." Rowley did write a letter, however, verifying her feat. Micky Axton had just made history as the first woman to pilot a B-29" (Boeing Frontiers, May 2006, Volume 5, Issue 1)

"On May 21, 1979, that WASP members received retroactive status as military veterans. During their service, they delivered more than 12,000 aircraft and logged more than 60 million miles in more than 70 types of airplanes, including Douglas and Boeing bombers. Eleven were killed during training and 27 more died during active duty."

"The Commemorative Air Force Jayhawk Wing in Wichita restored a Fairchild PT-19 and renamed it "Miss Micky" to honor Axton." Micky passed away on February 6, 2010 at the age of 91. A trailblazer in her own right, Micky will always be remembered as the first woman pilot to fly the B-29. Lest We Forget.



©️ WWII uncovered original description and photo sourced by: US Army, Boeing Frontiers, May 2006, Volume 5, Issue 1, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Ancestry Database and US Department of Defense (Fair Use Photos)

Thoughts, any pilots out there?

The FAA Suspended My Pilots License Head to https://squarespace.com/TRENTPALMER to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TRENTPALMERIt's time that I update you guys...

Cool!!!

Embry-Riddle Helicopter Insitute Partner to Offer Flight Training Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has selected Helicopter Institute Inc. (HI) as the sole provider of the Helicopter Flight Training Program to students at the university’s Prescott, Arizona, campus.

On this month 29 years ago, Captain Barbara Harmer became the first female pilot of the Concorde. Later that year, she flew her first flight as Captain from London Heathrow to New York.

Here she shares a moment with Flt. Ltd. Jo Salter, the first RAF female fast jet pilot, flying the Panavia ground attack aircraft with 617 Squadron.

Two of the many astonishing achievements women in the industry have made and continue to make. Today, on , join us in celebrating these!

Credit: adriandowling-aviation.co.uk

"The extra studio time dictated/required/provided during the shutdown was fantastic for getting new work started and in-process work completed. Always a silver lining !!!!!!" - Charles Huckeba, acrylic painter

Prescott Area Artist Studio Tour would like to thank Charles and all the other artists and art centers who participated in the 2021 Studio Tour.

If you missed last year's Tour, the 2022 Tour will be September 30, October 1 & 2 and many of our artists currently have their work available for purchase on our website.
https://www.prescottstudiotour.com/artists.html

Come support the ERAU Prescott Chapter of Women in Aviation International for their local Prescott area fundraiser!! Feb. 25th from 10 AM to 7 PM