Let Women Fly! Pioneer Aviator Ruth Law

She flew during the First World War, but she was not allowed to fly in combat - hence her article in the magazine Air Travel in 1917, Let Women Fly! She was allowed to wear uniform, but was told she could best help the war effort by teaching others to fly.

Ruth Law got her pilot's license in 1912 - she actually bought her aeroplane from Orville Wright. She looped the loop during a flying display in 1915, the first woman to do this. In 1916, she took part in an altitude competition, coming second, and that November she broke the cross-America flight air speed record of 452 miles by flying non-stop from Chicago to New York State, a distance of 590 miles. The next day she flew on to New York City.
After the First World War, she set up the Ruth Law Flying Circus, with three planes, but her husband eventually persuaded her to stop flying, because he was so fearful for her safety.
She died in San Francisco in 1970, aged 83.