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Women in Aviation International selected the 2024 inductees for the International Pioneer Hall of Fame. The trailblazing women will be honored at the 35th Annual Women in Aviation International Conference during a ceremony and celebration dinner at the Orlando World Center Marriot on Saturday, March 23, 2024 from 6-8 p.m.
Congratulations to the 2024 Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees.
Katherine Johnson
The late Katherine Johnson is one of the greatest mathematicians of her time, using her impressive knowledge and mathematical capabilities to become a NASA legend. Breaking through racial and gender barriers, Johnson and her Human Computer Women colleagues became an integral part of NASA's 1960s Space Race. Johnson's unparalleled mathematical calculations of orbital mechanics were a critical part of the successful first and subsequent U.S.-crewed spaceflights.
Her story was largely unknown until, after 60 years, the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and the movie of the same title revealed the genius behind the accomplishments of Johnson and her colleagues. According to NASA's biography on the late Johnson, she was handpicked to be one of three black students to integrate into West Virginia's graduate schools before she changed aviation with her time at NASA. By 13, she was attending high school and by 18 she enrolled in college, graduating with the highest honors in 1937 and taking a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia.According to NASA's biography, a relative told Johnson about open positions at the all-black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics' Langley laboratory, where she began work in 1953. She was quickly assigned to a project in the Maneuver Loads Branch of the Flight Research Division and spent the next four years analyzing data from flight tests and working on the investigation of a plane crash caused by wake turbulence. After the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, Johnson began providing math for notes on space travel and the NACA became NASA.Johnson did the trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's May 1961 mission Freedom 7, the first human spaceflight in America. In 1962 she was called to do the work she was most known for, running numbers and equations that had been programmed into IBM computers by hand, checking the work and calculations of the machine. As John Glenn prepared for his orbital mission, he requested that Johnson run the same numbers as the computer, trusting her calculations over the newer technology with its frequent hiccups. This flight was a major success and a turning point in the Space Race. Her calculations would go on to help with later flights and research.
In 2015 at the age of 97, Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Johnson died on Feb. 24, 2020 at 101 years old, an American hero and aviation pioneer.
U.S. Air Force First Undergraduate Navigator Class 78-01
In 1975 the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff announced the establishment of a test program for women pilots and navigators. The six candidates were USAF officers from multiple career fields including aircraft maintenance, drug and alcohol abuse programs, intelligence, weather and air traffic control. The women included Capt. Margaret M. Stanek, 1st Lt. Mary K. Higgins, 1st Lt. Elizabeth A. Koch, 1st Lt. Bettye J. Payne, 2nd Lt. Florence E. Parker and 2nd Lt. Ramona L. McCall.
This inaugural class opened doors for future women in military aviation. The women pioneers showed determination and professionalism on their journey into a new field. These women navigated around the world, something that was denied by policy since World War II. According to the Air Force Recruiting Service, this program continues today with a new name at a Navy base. The test program, teaching women and men alongside each other in the classes, was renamed Undergraduate Combat Systems Officer Training. The alumni were celebrated at the 45th anniversary of Undergraduate Navigator Training class 78-01 in 2022, honoring the group that pushed boundaries and changed perceptions.
The Air Force Recruiting Service reported that before Class 78-01 changed history, society and the Air Force grappled with the question of whether women should or should not be allowed to obtain aircrew training. In 1975 one brave major said in an Air Command and Staff College paper that excluding women from UNT training was unconstitutional and it launched a change within a traditionally male-dominant organization, allowing a group of pioneer women to prove what they can do. Some of the class, like Higgins, continued to pilot training, breaking further boundaries in military aviation.
U.S. Army Air Forces World War II Flight Nurses
At the peak of WWII, 500 flight nurses were serving with the U.S. Army Air Forces as members of 31 medical air evacuation squadrons. These missions took place around the world, on both the European and Pacific fronts. The first class of these brave volunteer flight nurses graduated from air evacuation training at Bowman Field (LOU) in Louisville, Kentucky on Feb. 18, 1943.
According to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the USAAF created a rush training program for flight surgeons, enlisted medical technicians and flight nurses at Bowman Field. The need for nurses grew after the Allied invasion of North Africa in November of 1942 and despite the women at Bowman not having finished their training, the USAAF sent them to North Africa on Christmas Day. The first class formally graduated a few months later in February 1943. From the class, 2nd Lt. Geraldine Dishroon, the honor graduate, received the first-ever wings presented to a flight nurse, according to the National Museum of the USAF.
The flight nurses were in top physical condition to perform in demanding medical evacuation missions. The women were trained in crash procedures, survival training and high-altitude physiology. Over one million patients were evacuated by air between January 1943 and May 1945 and only 46 died en route. Of the 500, there were 17 flight nurses who lost their lives during the war.
The WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame was established in 1992 to honor the women who have made significant contributions to aviation as record-setters, pioneers or innovators. Special consideration is given to groups or individuals who have helped other women to be successful in the field or opened doors of opportunity for the next generation.
"Our 2024 inductees are shining examples of grit and determination," WAI Interim CEO Stephanie Kenyon said. "For over 30 years, WAI has annually showcased the accomplishments of female trailblazers—as individuals and groups—through our Pioneer Hall of Fame. We are proud to honor their unique talents and skill sets which have helped pave the way for other women and largely contributed to aviation and aerospace in unique ways."