Hannah Lincoln Harkness was born in Houghton, Michigan back in 1914. She attended the Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Vassar in New York. At 16 she obtained her pilot’s license. At Vassar she earned extra money taking students for rides in an aircraft she rented from a nearby airport.
In 1932, at the end of her freshman year she earned her commercial license receiving national attention. In 1936, she married Robert an Air Corps Reserve Major. In 1937-38 she worked as a test pilot for the Gwinn Air Car Company. During her time at Gwinn she tested the new tricycle landing gear, which subsequently became standard on most aircraft. She died in1976, she was 62.
What you may not know about “Nancy” Harkness Love is that during WWII she convinced William H. Turner to set up a group of female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases, hence came about the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, which she commanded. For her services she was awarded the Air Medal and appointed lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve in 1948.
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