Post by National Aviation Hall of Fame

NAHF Enshrinee Phoebe Omlie was an aviation pioneer, barrier-breaker, and fearless aerial performer. In 1921, she began her own air show with husband Vernon Omlie called the Phoebe Fairgrave Flying Circus, later they combined forces with accomplished stunt flier Glenn Messer to run the Messer-Fairgrave Flying Circus. Stunts this team performed included mid-air plane-to-plane transfer, hanging from the plane by their teeth, and parachute jumps. On July 10, 1922, Omlie achieved the highest parachute jump by a woman at a distance of 15,200 feet. In 1927, she became the first woman to receive both an Federal Aviation Administration aircraft mechanic’s license and a transport pilot’s license. Omlie participated, and racked up wins, in an array of air races including: the 1929 First National Women's Air Derby (came in first in her aircraft’s class), the 1930 Dixie Derby Air Race, the 1931 Transcontinental Handicap Sweepstakes Derby, and the 1931 National Air Races in Cleveland (this was the first year women were allowed to compete). In this time she also became a charter member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots whose first president was fellow NAHF Enshrinee Amelia Earhart. Omlie supported President Roosevelt during his presidential campaign, and he later assigned her as Special Adviser for Air Intelligence to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) making her the first woman to be appointed to a federal aviation position. While serving in this post, she worked on a variety of projects including: conducting a nation-wide survey of the Federal Airways System and running an air-marking program that would paint approximately 16,000 markers across the United States for easier aerial navigation. Later working with the Tennessee Bureau of Aeronautics, Omlie established a program to train women flight instructors. The first class of 10 women graduated in February 1943. These women would go on to instruct men and women pilots in both the military and civilian worlds, including the USAAF Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).