Learning Center Our Enshrinees

Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie

• Trailblazing aviation pioneer and the first woman in the U.S. to earn both an FAA aircraft mechanic’s license and a transport pilot’s license.
• Began her career as a daring barnstormer and air racer, setting multiple records—including the world’s highest parachute jump by a woman at 15,200 feet in 1922—and winning major air races such as the National Women’s Air Derby and the Transcontinental Handicap Sweepstakes.
• Operated one of the earliest flight schools and aircraft service businesses in Memphis, Tennessee, and was a charter member of The Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots founded by Amelia Earhart.
• Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the first woman to hold a federal aviation position, serving as Special Adviser for Air Intelligence to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
• Established 66 flight schools in 46 states to support World War II pilot training—including programs that trained the Tuskegee Airmen—and created an “experimental” flight instructor program for women.
• Honored by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as one of the nation’s “eleven women whose achievements make it safe to say that the world is progressing,” leaving a lasting legacy in both aviation and women’s history.