Publisher's Synopsis
The achievements of female flyers from 18th-century balloonists to today's astronauts.;Women began to pilot airplanes in 1910 and by the 1930s had produced an abundance of record-makers, Amy Johnson, Amelia Earhart, Jean Batten and Beryl Markham. Throughout World War II and after, opportunities grew for women in the air forces, commercially and in space exploration.;Fictional images of female flyers are considered in comic-strips, magazines and books, from W.E. John's Woralls to Mills and Boon romances. Generally, fictional aviatrices achieve success more easily than their real-life counterparts, becoming, especially to women, symbols of liberation and feminist achievement.