Giving Wings To Dreams

Came across an interesting person while searching for a tidbit to share. Let me tell you about Katherine Stinson Otero. (1891-1977) 

As a young girl, Katherine was intent on traveling through Europe. She just had to come up with a means to fund her trip and came across a job offer for pilots to perform air shows and make up to $1,000 a day. 

Initially it was difficult convincing anyone that she was capable of becoming a pilot. Standing 5 feet tall and weighing 101 pounds, no one thought she would be strong enough to manage an airplane. She obtained her pilot's certificate at the age of 21. She liked flying so much that she gave up her piano career and decided to become an aviator.

Billed as the “flying schoolgirl,” she traveled across the country, appearing at air shows, and performing such feats as diving 1,000 feet, racing automobiles, and turning loops. 

Katherine became the first woman to perform a loop, at Cicero Field in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to perform this feat some 500 times without a single accident. She became one of the first women authorized to carry airmail for the United States. She is credited as the first skywriter; the first woman to fly over London, and the first woman to fly at night.

When Katherine was denied admission to the air service in World War I, she became an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Europe. She retired from aviation In 1920 and married airman Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr. in 1927.

Just goes to show - determination and grit will take you places you never dreamed about.