I'll Bet You Didn't Know This!

Did you know, Helen Richey (1909–1947) was a pioneering female pilot and she was also the first woman to be hired as a pilot by an American commercial airline.

Helen was born in Pennsylvania in a town called McKeesport, She graduated from high school in 1927. During her teens, she was one of a handful  of girls in McKeesport who dared to wear pants. At the age of 20, she learned how to fly a plane and when she passed her pilot's licence, her father bought her a plane.

Richey partnered with another female pilot, Frances Marsalis in 1933, to set an endurance record by managing to stay airborne for  almost 10 days, refueling in midair. In 1934, she won the premier air race at the first National Air Meet for women in Dayton, Ohio and in the same year, Central Airlines, at Greensburg, Pennsylvania signed her up as a pilot–this company went on to become part of United Airlines, on  December 31, Helen made her first regular civil flight with them flying a Ford Tri-motor on the Washington to Detroit route. Eventually, she was forced to stop flying by the male dominated pilots union.

Not only was Helen Richey the first female commercial airline #pilot, she was also the first woman sworn in to pilot air mail flights and was also the  first female flight instructors. On 7 January 1947, Helen Richey died in her New York  apartment from an apparent pill overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide