Iowa’s forgotten aviation pioneer built 66 flight schools and trained the Tuskegee Airmen

Wikimedia Commons/SDASM Archives

Phoebe Fairgrave’s Record-Breaking Aviation Career and Federal Appointment

Phoebe Fairgrave saw a plane fly over St. Paul in 1920 and knew what she had to do.

At just 17, she spent her inheritance on a biplane and soon set a women’s parachute record, jumping from 15,200 feet.

After marrying her pilot in 1922, she broke more barriers as the first woman with both pilot and mechanic licenses…

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