TEXT I

Drawing Number One

“I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them. They answered, ‘Why be scared of a hat?’ My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. Then I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so the grownups could understand. They always need explanations. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

Drawing Number Two

The grown-ups' advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, I abandoned, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged by the failure of my Drawing Number One and of my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again. So then I had to choose another career, and I learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown almost everywhere in the world. And, as a matter of fact, geography has been a big help to me. I could tell China from Arizona at first glance, which is very useful if you get lost during the night. So I have had in the course of my life, lots of encounters with lots of serious people. I have spent lots of time with grown-ups. I have seen them at close range... which hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.”

Source: SAINT-EXUPÉRY, Antoine. The little Prince. New York:

Mariner Books, 1943. Translated from French by Richard Howard.

TEXT II

Around the World with Barrier Breaking Women Pilots

Oct 31, 2021

By Dorothy Cochrane and P. Ramirez

We know the names of early American women pilots like Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart. However, across the globe, women pilots were also taking to the skies and setting records. Travel across with these stories of two such pilots.

Part I

Hélène Dutrieu, Belgium

Hélène Dutrieu of Belgium was known as the "girl hawk" of aviation because she was the most daring and accomplished woman pilot of her time. She first soloed in France in 1909 and within a year was setting altitude and distance records. She thrilled the world in September of 1910 by flying non-stop from Ostend to Bruges, Belgium, and she became the first Belgian woman to receive a pilot license on November 25, 1910. During her second year as an aviator she narrowly escaped death twice. She visited the United States in 1911, making her American debut at the Nassau Boulevard Aviation meeting. Back in Europe, Dutrieu won France's Coupe Femina for the women's world nonstop light record on December 31, 1911, flying 158 miles (254 kilometers) in 178 minutes. In Florence, Italy, she was the only woman in a field of 15 and outflew all of her male competitors to win the King's Cup. In 1913 the French government awarded Dutrieu the Legion of Honor for her achievements. She also became an ambulance driver and later a director of a military hospital.

Part II

Jean Batten, New Zealand

Jean Batten grew up in New Zealand and developed a love for aviation that overcame her desire to be a concert pianist. Her interest in flying stemmed from the 1919 England to Australia flight by Ross and Keith Smith, and later solo flights. Batten's father did not approve of her aviation enthusiasm but she convinced her mother to move to England with her and help her become a pilot. She received her license and her commercial rating at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane and then began planning for a flight from England to Australia. Her first two attempts failed, but she succeeded in 1934, flying a Gipsy Moth. Batten became an instant sensation in Australia, New Zealand, and in England upon her return flight the next year (it was the first roundtrip by a woman). In 1935, she broke James Mollison's records for England to Brazil and Dakar to Natal while becoming the first woman to solo across the South Atlantic. Then, in 1936, she realized her dream of flying solo from England to New Zealand in a Percival Gull in 11 days and earned her second consecutive Harmon Trophy, having shared the first one in 1935 with Amelia Earhart. In 1937, she set another record for an Australia to England flight. Unable to obtain a flying job during World War II, Batten gave up flying and eventually became a recluse, living with her mother in Majorca, Spain, and appearing in public only for a few anniversary events. In 1937, she published her autobiography, My Life.

Adapted from: RAMIREZ. Around the World with Barrier

Breaking Women Pilots:https://airandspace.si.edu

/stories/editorial/around-world-barrier-breaking-women-

pilotshttps:// airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/around-world-barrier-

breaking- women-pilots. Accessed on February 20th 2024