Ann Shaw Carter (December 5, 1922 – September 26, 2005) was an American pilot who was the first female commercial

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

pilot and the second woman to fly a helicopter, after the German pilot,

Hanna Reitsch Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German Pilot (aeronautics), aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight-tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many hono ...

. Carter was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 5, 1922, and moved to

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull, Easton, Connecticut, Easton, Weston, Connecticut, W ...

, as a child. During World War II, she studied aircraft building in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

. She then got a job with Chance-Vought as a factory

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylinder (geometry), cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed e ...

er, assembling

F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

aircraft, to finance flying lessons. She joined the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

(WASP) in 1944, training in Texas, and was a member of the last graduating set before the program was discontinued that year.

After the end of the war, she was the first American woman to learn to pilot a helicopter, receiving her commercial helicopter license on June 12, 1947, more than nine years after Hannah Reitsch's demonstration flight in February 1938. She became a pilot with the Metropolitan Aviation Corporation, piloting New York City sightseeing trips and charter flights. She is documented as the world's first female commercial helicopter pilot. She flew

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, United States as well as commercial heli ...

s, including a Bell 47B. In 1955, she was one of the six founding members of the

Whirly-Girls The Whirly-Girls, officially known as Whirly-Girls International, are a non-profit, charitable and educational organization that aims to advance women in helicopter aviation. They are an affiliate member of the Helicopter Association International ...

, which dubbed her "Whirly Girl #2"; she was one of several society members to meet President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

in a visit to the White House in 1961. One of the helicopters that she flew was preserved by the

American Helicopter Museum The American Helicopter Museum & Education Center (AHMEC) is located at 1220 American Boulevard, West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. The transport museum focuses on the history, science and technology of rotary wing aviation. The collect ...

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

. Her aviation career was cut short by

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

towards the end of the 1950s.

Later life

In later life, Carter continued to live in

. She was married to Edward Carter (died 2004); the couple had three children. She was active in local politics and in the early 1990s, was one of the founders of Friends of Open Space, a Fairfield organization that aimed to conserve open land for community use. In 1999, she and her husband gave 2.2 acres of land to the Connecticut branch of the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

, a conservation charity, to facilitate access to a Fairfield wildlife sanctuary. Carter died on September 26, 2005, at the age of 83, after a car accident.

References

External links

Photograph in a Metropolitan Aviation Corporation Bell helicopter
(Fairfield Museum from Women's Collection,

Texas Woman's University Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a Public research university, public coeducational research university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Ann Shaw 1922 births 2005 deaths Women Airforce Service Pilots personnel American women commercial aviators American commercial aviators People from Fairfield, Connecticut 21st-century American women Women helicopter pilots