Story ID: 080e
WAI Conference Honors Female Aviation Pioneers
By: Kait Wilson
Caption: The 33rd Women in Aviation International conference concluded with the culmination of a dinner banquet honoring the WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees.
Word Count: 349
The 33rd annual Women in Aviation International (WAI) conference concluded on March 19 with a banquet honoring the WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees. Since the previous conference was held virtually due to the pandemic, the ceremony also recognized the 2021 honorees.

Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees for 2022 are hometown hero and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) aviator Cornelia Clark Fort, U.S. Navy Capt. Rosemary Bryant Mariner, and U.S. Air Force Col. Peggy Phillips.

In 1941 Clark Fort became Nashville's first female flight instructor. A few months later, while conducting a civilian training flight near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, Clark Fort was the first U.S. pilot to encounter the Japanese air fleet during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She and her student narrowly escaped a midair collision with Japanese aircraft. The following year, she became the second member of what was to become the WASP. On March 21, 1943, she became the first U.S. female pilot to die on active duty.

Bryant Mariner, also honored posthumously, earned her private pilot certificate at 17 and became the first woman admitted to the Purdue University Professional Pilot program. After graduation, she was selected in the first group of women to train as naval aviators in 1973. Bryant Mariner received her Navy wings of gold in June 1974 and became the first military woman to qualify in a tactical jet, the A-4 Skyhawk, in 1975.  She since notched many female firsts from flying the A-7E Corsair II to qualifying as a surface warfare officer and commanding an operational aviation squadron.

Phillips was the first woman selected by the 702nd Military Airlift Squadron to attend undergraduate pilot training. She later became the first female C-17 squadron commander and was promoted to the rank of colonel. She was the first female reserve pilot to serve as director of mobility forces supporting the Katrina Operation. Phillips retired from military service in 2010. 

 
, full_html