Women in History

Nancy Harkness Love
February 14, 1914 - October 22, 1976
By Laura M. Hartman
Women in History Columnist

Born the daughter of a wealthy physician, Nancy Harkness Love began her lifelong interest with aviation at 16, the age when today's young women learn to drive a car. A pair of barnstorming pilots took her up for her first flight after she paid a "penny a pound." Hooked on the thrill and freedom of the skies, Love wanted more than one quick flight.(1) Even though her parents encouraged their children to pursue their own interests, her mother did not think flying was proper for a well-bred young lady and her father had serious doubts. But, in the end, they permitted their only daughter to learn to fly. She began her flying lessons at 16, with a pilot barely older than herself. She took her first flight and earned her pilot's license within the same month.(2)

A restless and daring teen, Love grew bored at the prestigious schools she attended, which included Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Vassar in New York. While still in high school at Milton, she escaped her boredom and earned extra money by taking her fellow students for rides in a plane rented from a nearby airport. She was suspended for two weeks and forbidden to fly for the remainder of a semester when she buzzed the campus low enough for someone to read the numbers on the plane's tail and turned her in.(3)

While spending a year abroad, Nancy Harkness Love was in the excited crowd watching Charles Lindbergh land in Le Bourget. Witnessing the culmination of his successful trans-Atlantic solo flight, the young woman was determined to continue flying.(1)

Read more about Nancy Harkness Love in the March issue of Penwomanship. Subscribe today!

1.) http://www.womenshistory.about.com/library/prm/blwaspsofwar1.html
2.) http://www.atalink.org/hallfame/harkness.html
3.) http://www.pbs.org/wghb/amex/flygirls/peopleevents/pandeAMEX03.html

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