Katherine Stinson (1891-1977), pilot, was born in Fort Payne,
Alabama, on Feb. 14, 1891, 12 years before the Wright brothers
made their first successful flight. As a young woman, she
planned to study music in Europe so that she could be a piano
teacher. In order to earn enough money for her trip, she decided
to become a stunt pilot and, after convincing her parents, asked
Max Lillie of Chicago to instruct her. Lillie, one of the early
great aviators, looked at the petite young woman and promptly
refused. However she persuaded him to take her up in one of his
planes, and after a mere four hours of instruction she was
flying alone. Lillie then agreed to teach her stunt flying, and
Stinson's career in aviation was underway. On July 12, 1912,
Katherine Stinson became the fourth American woman to earn a
pilot's license. As the "Flying Schoolgirl" she toured the
country and thrilled thousands of viewers with her stunts at
county and state fairs. Before long she not only relinquished
her plans to study music, but al