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Helen Richey shakes hands with Assistant Postmaster General W.W. Howes as she prepares to become the first woman to fly the U.S. Air Mail, December 31, 1934.
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Helen Richey, shakes hands with Assistant Postmaster General W.W. Howes as she prepares to become the first woman to fly the U.S. Air Mail

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 and harassed by male pilots and restricted to daytime, fair weather flying, Richey quit in less than a year. Returning to racing and barnstorming, she set two world records for flying light places in 1936.

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