Women in Aviation International (WAI) has selected the 2017 inductees into its International Pioneer Hall of Fame. These women will be honored at the 28th annual International Women in Aviation Conference, which will be held March 2-4, 2017, at Disney’s Coronado Spring Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ceremony will take place at the closing banquet on Saturday, March 4, 2017.

"Honoring these women and chronicling their achievements is an important mission for Women in Aviation International,” says WAI President Dr. Peggy Chabrian. "Not only have these women had great individual accomplishments but they have paved the way for other women to have similar success.”

The First Class of Women Naval Aviators - Judith Neuffer, Barbara Allen, Jane Skiles, Ana Marie Scott, Joellen Drag and Rosemary Merims. In January 1973, eight female trainees were selected to train as Naval aviators. The women reported to Pensacola for flight training in May 1973. Two women were dropped from the program and six women went on to earn their “Wings of Gold” and became the first women to be designated full-fledged military pilots. Their success made it possible for subsequent female Naval aviators.

Previous History Hour installments: 
How NASA intentionally crashed a Boeing 720
First jet landing on aircraft carrier
First England to Australia flight​