Product description women aviators Review If you think the skies belong to birds and men, you might want to consider a different notion. Ladybirds and Ladybirds II is a history of American women in every aspect of aviation from a woman balloonist of 200 years ago, to the early days of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, to today's commercial women airline pilots (co-author Lori Griffith is a Boeing 737 captain with USAir). Those Wonderful Women and Their Flying Machines hones in on World War II to recount the story of the over 1,000 women pilots who flew in the military as part of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Over 25,000 women applied and 1,800 were selected to train at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. From 1942 to '44, these pilots flew over 60 million miles in every type of plane the airforce had, and 38 women lost their lives in service. Here, in biography style, the niece of one of these pilots recreates the amazing story of what she calls "one of the best-kept secrets of World War II." Together, these books record an unexplored part of American and aviation history along with the passion of women who loved to fly. -- From Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Neta Snook defied the prevailing social custom and opened an aviation business on her own. Mary Neta Snook Southern was born February 14, 1896 in Mt. Carroll, Illinois and was 95 years young when she took her last flight. Neta Snook, who had taught Amelia Earhart to fly, had begun flying lessons on July 21st, 1917 but had not soloed when civilian flying was banned because of World War I. She remained active in aviation by taking a job with British Air Ministry, inspecting aircraft engines under production at the Willys Morrow factory in Elmira, New York.