florence klingensmith is a farmer's daughter.amelia's comes from a broken home with an alcoholic father. everybody had a different kind of upbringing. but there were a couple of key things that i think are important. the first is, interestingly, in each of these women's cases, their fathers supported them in this endeavor from a young age. indeed, it was often their fathers who had bought them their first flight. a five dollar flight at a state fair. or a beach on a saturday. for paid for their first flight lesson. so they had their father support. but i think more importantly, and i think more telling for parents and for me as a parent and for all of us is apparent today's from a young age, and i mean from the time these women were little girls. first grade. second grade. they knew at their core that they were different. amelia wanted to wear her hair short, which was not allowed in her house, and not really acceptable in society in the early 19 20s. and so, she would sneak it by cutting off her hair one inch at a time. louise a

that woman's name was florence klingensmith. you see her here pictured with amelia earhart one year earlier in 1932 after florence won the first ever all female speed air race the amelia earhart trophy. you know, you probably haven't heard of florence klingensmith. most people haven't. and when we think about women and aviation in the 1920s and 30s we tend to think about one or two women. bessie coleman the first black female aviator in this country and the only one who died in a plane crash in florida in 1926. or of course amelia earhart and when we think about amelia, we like to think of her all alone. you know alone in that plane over the ocean alone flying into those cultural headwinds. but at the time amelia was flying other women were flying with her. each of them was brave each of them was bold. some of them arguably objectively. we're perhaps more talented in a cockpit than amelia. today we have forgotten almost everything about them. their battles and their losses their friendships and their rivalries what they fought f