Rising Above It - The Autobiography of Edna Gardner Whyte
The Story of a Pioneering Woman Aviator
Gardner Whyte, Edna - Cooper, Ann L.
First Edition
Edna Gardner Whyte wanted to fly from the time she was a girl but as one bjorn in an era when women could not even vote, she found that earning her wings was a constant struggle against male chauvmism and prejudice. When \'hvte went to be tested for her pilot's license in 1931, the government inspector told her he had never licensed a woman and didn't want to start.
Such discrimination only fueled W'hyte's determination and competitive spirit. Her career became a crusade to prove that women could perform just as well as men and should be afforded the same opportunities. Time after time she assaulted the barricades erected against women in aviation.
Denied the chance to fly for the military, Whyte taught military pilots. Refused employment by the commercial airlines, she trained hundreds of students for their cockpits. Most of all, she poured her zeal into daredevil solo racing. Whyte won her first race in 1933 and since then has earned more than 125 air racing trophies. She has also served as president of the Ninty-Nines, the pioneering International Organization of Women Pilots.
In her late sixties, Whyte planned to start an airport in Texas but was denied a bank loan. Undeterred, she borrowed money from friends and blazed a runway across a cotton field. She built her airport into a successful business and iives there today in a house attached to a five-plane "garage".
Now at the ageof eighty-nine, Whyte has paused to look back on her remarkable career. "Rising Above It" is not only a rousing story, it will be an inspiration to anyone, of either sex who won't take no for an answer.
EDNA GARDNER WHYTE was born in 1902, made her first solo flight in 1931, and since then has logged more than 30.000 hours in the cockpit. She has received many of aviations highest honors, including the Charles Lindbergh Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1990 she became the first woman elected an Honorary Member of the Order of Daedalians. She has worked and flown all over the United States and now Iives in Roanoke, Texas.
Hardcover with dust jacket
257 Seiten / pages
photos
book very good condition, dust jacket good condition
New York - 1991 - Orion Books
Art.Nr. 11812
