Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann
On December 31, 1934, Helen Richey became the first woman to pilot a commercial airliner, flying from Washington D.C. to Detroit. Hired by the new Pennsylvania Central Airlines for publicity, Richey was harassed by male pilots and restricted to daytime, fair weather flying, so she quit in less than a year. Returning to racing and barnstorming, she set two world records for light places in 1936.
