February 23, 1901: Aviation Pioneer, CAP Lt. Col. Ruth Rowland Nichols, Born

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On this date in 1901, Ruth Rowland Nichols, a women aviation pioneer, Civil Air Patrol pilot during World War II and a CAP Lieutenant Colonel, was born in New York City.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:

While a student at Wellesley College, Nichols secretly took flying lessons. Shortly after graduation, she received her pilot's license, and became the first woman in the world to obtain a hydroplane license. She first achieved public fame in January 1928, as co-pilot for Harry Rogers, who had been her flying instructor, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Miami, Florida. Due to her socialite upbringing and aristocratic family background, Nichols became known in the press as the "Flying Debutante", a name she hated. Nichols was then hired as a sales manager for Fairchild Aviation Corporation. In 1929, she was a founding member, with Amelia Earhart and others, of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of licensed women pilots.

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