Love, Nancy (1914–1976)

views updated

Love, Nancy (1914–1976)

American aviator and military leader. Born Nancy Harkness, Feb 14, 1914, in Houghton, Michigan; died Oct 22, 1976, on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; attended Vassar; m. Robert Maclure Love (pilot).

At 16, learned to fly; awarded pilot's license one month after 1st flight; at 19, received transport rating (1933); worked with husband as a Beechcraft distributor; served as a test pilot for the Gwinn Air Car Co. (1937–38); at onset of WWII, joined 32 male pilots to ferry American planes to Canada for shipment to France; proposed and became director of the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS, 1942).

See also Women in World History.