Women Pilots

There were women aviators before and during the Great War. A few taught fighter pilots, while a very few Russian women and one Belgian reputedly flew in combat missions.

Katherine Stinson with her Curtiss aeroplane before the war

From 1915-1917 the American Stinson sisters - Katherine and Marjorie - trained over 100 Canadian pilots, preparing to join the Royal Flying Corps, at their family’s Texas flying school.

A French aviatrix and nurse disguised herself and flew combat missions for several weeks before being discovered. A young British woman "of good family" also disguised herself as a French pilot but was soon sent back to England. Tantalizing grist for the fiction mill!