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CO Sky Stars         
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Colorado Sky Stars: Trailblazing Women in Aviation & Aerospace
Colorado Sky Stars is a new history book which shares the stories of women of aviation and aerospace in and from Colorado from the early years to contemporary female leaders in the industry. Accounts of outstanding pilots, air controllers, airport managers, air hostesses/flight attendants, balloonists, scientists, and women aviation and space leaders inspire readers. Colorado has a rich aviation heritage. Many important contributions were made by women. Did you know that the very first female civilian air traffic controller in the whole United States worked in the Denver Airway Traffic center in July 1942? Mary Chance VanScyoc worked in those early years controlling Highways of the Colorado Skies, after only a month of beginning her on-the-job training. She shared all her aviation adventures in her book, A Lifetime of Chances. Did you know Sabrina Jackintell set the Worlds Altitude record in February 1979 from the Black Forest Gliderport? According to Colorado State Soaring Records, Sabrina soared to an amazing altitude of 41, 460 feet in her Astir CS glider. This incredible flight lasted three hours and eighteen minutes as Sabrina perfectly flew the mountain waves flowing over Pikes Peak. Many know of the contributions of Captain Elrey Jeppesen to aviation. But, did you know his wife, Nadine Liscomb Jeppesen, a former United Airlines stewardess, helped build the world famous Jeppesen Company with its incredible Black Book Airway Manuals? Beginning in 1941, Nadine managed the store front Jeppesen Flight Chart store on East Colfax Avenue, while Elrey continued flying passengers for United. It was the determined Nadine who interviewed and hired cartographers, designed, and wrote promotional materials for the fledgling company. She juggled business and family obligations as company secretary-treasurer until the Times Mirror Corporation bought the Jeppesen Company in 1961. In 1994, Nadine Jeppesen was awarded the National Aeronautic Association Katharine Wright Award, named for the sister of the famous Wright Brothers because of Katharine's significant personal and financial support of the Wrights' pioneering aviation efforts. Nadine Jeppesen was inducted into the Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1995. These are just a few of our female Colorado Sky Stars. If you have ideas of historic or current women in aviation and aerospace you would like to see included in this new book, please email DrPenny1@earthlink.net soon. (A portion of the authors net proceeds will be donated to Colorado STEM programs for girls. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.) |
