REVIEWS : Various Media

Famous Women Aviators Playing Cards by International Women's Air and Space Museum Available at the IWASM shop for $10.00 Review by Barbara Peterson The International Women's Air and Space Museum has been located at Burke Lakefront Airport (Room 165, 1501 N. Marginal Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44114) since 1998.

I'm a collector. Wheverever I travel, I always pick up t-shirt or a hat (and usually both) emblazoned with the logo of the particular city or famous tourist location. I do the same thing when it comes to women's aviation. I've picked up quite a few t-shirts from Women Fly, not to mention the WASP museum and various stunt pilots such as Jill "Raggz" Long. A few months ago I visited the International Women's Air and Space Museum webshop (I've yet to visit it in person, but the web is wonderful!)

There's plenty of good stuff there, from accessories such as tote bags, blankets and hats, to T-shirts, to videotapes, to playing cards. I picked up the playing cards, and I love them. 52 photos of famous women pilots, and a few astronauts. Each photo identifies the pilot and one of her claims to fame. The only problem I have with the cards is that while most of the photos are placed vertically, as it should be, three or four are placed horizontally, which makes it hard to look at them while you're trying to play!

These cards make the perfect gift - either as a collectible, or as cards meant to be used.

The list of pilots featured:

The first six women astronauts: A Fisher, S. Lucid, J. Resnik, S. Ride, R. Seddon, K. Sullivan, chosen 1978

Patricia Arnold- 1st woman in the world to own a helicopter, air race participant

Pancho Barnes - Barnstormer, movie stunt pilot, winning air racer, Lockheed test pilot

Berrnice Barris- CFII, commercial multi-engine land/sea safety instructor, air racer

Jan Haviland Bartoo - Pennsylvania Central Airline DC-3, Cleveland Municiplal Airport, 1946

Marta Bohn-Meyer- Only woman to fly the SR-71, Aerobatic champion, NASA engineer

Caro Bayley Bosca - WASP. 1951-1st woman's aerobatic champion. Altitude record: 30,203 ft

Myrtle "K" Cagle- One of the Mercury 13

Jacquline Cochran- Supervised WASP 1942-1944, 1st woman to break the sound barrier

Bessie Coleman- First African-American woman to earn her pilot's license in 1921, barnstormer

Eileen Collins - 1st woman to pilot and command the space shuttle

Arlene Davis - 1st woman to earn an M-4 rating, devoted to work with youth in aviation [qualifying her to pilot multi-engine airplanes up to a gross weight of 10,000 pounds over land and sea]; first private pilot, man or woman, to receive an instrument rating which qualified her to fly blind; first woman to receive the Veteran’s Pilot Award; first woman to receive the Elder Statesman of Aviation award.

Amelia Earhart- 1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, first president of the 99s

Viola Gentry- Established a solo endurance flight record for women pilots

Betty Huyler Gillies - one of the original 25 WAFs, Chairman of AWTAR 1953-1961

Pauline Glasson - Founding member of the Air Race Classic, flight instructor

Mayte Greco-Regan - "The Angel from Above"

Mary Haizlip- Set women's speed record at 1932 Cleveland National Air Races

Jean Hixson- WASP, Colonel in the Air Force reserves, one of the Mercury 13

Joan Hrubec- Airplane modeler, 99 officer, IWASM trustee, air race pilot

Margaret Hurlburt - WASP, Class 43-6, winner of the Halle Trophy Race in 1946

Teddy Kenyon - Winner National Sportsman Champion 1933, Grumman Aircraft test pilot

Irene Leverton- 63 years of flying - commuter, ferry, air ambulance, air Taxi, CAP, CFT

Clara Livingston - Puerto Rico's first female aviator, Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol

Nancy Harkness Love - organized and led the Women's Auxiliary Ferry squadron durong WWII

Connie Luhta - President of IWASM, owner of Concord Air Park, air racer

Kate Macario- "stalwart supporter of general aviation and the 99s for over 50 years"

Bernetta Adams Miller- 3rd woman in the US to fly

Jerrie Mock- First woman to fly solo around the world: March 19-April 17, 1964

Ruth Nichols- Held records for altitude, speed and distance at the same time

Harriet Quimby - 1st licensed female pilot in the US, 1st woman to solo the English channel

Helen Richey - 1st woman in the US to obtain a commercial pilot's license

Margaret Ringenberg WASP, 99, instructor, race pilot (2xs around world, Girlscanfly.net

Louise Sacchi- Set world speed record in single-engine plane, NY to London - 1971 (2 cards)

Blanche Stuart Scott - 1st US woman pilot, 1st woman test pilot, 1st woman passenger in jet

Lauretta Schimmoler - Founder: Aerial nurse Corps of America, USAF #1 Honorary Flight Nurse

Evelyn Sharp - Nebraska's Queen of the Air. Original WWII ferry pilot, WAFS/WASP

Anne Shields- Ferry pilot, WASP, FSS Weather briefer Betty Skelton - International Feminine Aerobatic Champion 1948-1950

Elinor Smith - Voted Best Woman pilot in the US in 1930, teenager demonstration pilot

Bernice "B" Steadman- Past president - IWASM and 99s, one of the Mercury 13, avid air racer

Katherine Stinson- "The Flying Schoolgirl." 1st woman to own and operate a flight school.

Louise Thaden- First women to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, 1936

Nancy Hopkins Tier- IWASM President 1985-1996. 1st women colonel in the Civil Air Patrol

Virginia Thomas- Pilot and aviataion historian

Mary von Mach - 1st woman to obtain pilot's license in MI, 1929 Air Race Pilot

Fay Gillis Wells- Charter 99, White House correspondent, co-founder Forest of Friendship

Irene Wirtschafter - "self-made woman loved to fly and gave back all she could"

Connie Wolf- Set 3 ballooning records in 1 flight: endurance, distance and altitude

Katharine Wright - "Third member of the Wright Team"