Myrtle "Kay" Thompson Cagle (June 3, 1925 – December 22, 2019) was an American pilot and one of the

Mercury 13 The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded program run by William Randolph Lovelace II aiming to test and screen women for Human spaceflight, spaceflight. The participants—First Lady Astronaut Trainees (or ...

female

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s group. She worked as a

flight instructor A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...

and wrote about

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Biography

Pre-Mercury 13

Cagle was born on June 3, 1925, in North Carolina. Cagle had always wanted to fly from a young age. When she was 12, her brothers taught her to fly using the plane they owned. When she "earned her wings" at the age of 14, she was the youngest pilot in

, and at the time, may have been the youngest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. She joined the high school's aeronautics class, when the school's instructor was drafted to fight in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she finished out her year as the teacher. As a flight instructor she was nicknamed, "Captain K". Cagle earned her private pilot's license when she was nineteen. Cagle joined the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

and the

Ninety-Nines The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...

, and wanted to become a

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

. Cagle went on to run an airport near

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

and her own charter plane service. In 1950, she earned a trophy in the

Powder Puff Derby The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly know ...

. She earned her Commercial Pilots license with Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land ratings and Instrument ratings by 1951. She was also a certified Flight Instructor, Flight Instrument Instructor and Ground Instructor. Her

flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

was located in Selma. Cagle began writing a column called "Air Currents" in 1946 for the ''Johnstonian Sun'' newspaper in Selma. Later the column was moved to the ''

Raleigh News and Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'' from 1953 to 1960. When she flew a

T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

jet trainer, she became one of only five women who had "ever piloted a jet."

Mercury 13

Cagle married former pupil, Walt Cagle, in 1960. Her

wedding dress A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo ...

was made from parachutes. She moved to Macon, Georgia, in 1961. Not long after she arrived, she was invited to participate in the new Women in Space Program. Cagle had 4,300 hours of flying time by the time the program started. Cagle and the twelve other women participants eventually became known as the "

." During the program, Cagle was warned by the administrators not to become

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ...

. Among the multitude of tests she underwent as part of the program, she noted that one of the worst tests she faced was having her

eardrum In the anatomy of humans and various other tetrapods, the eardrum, also called the tympanic membrane or myringa, is a thin, cone-shaped membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. Its function is to transmit sound from the air ...

s frozen.

Post-Mercury 13

Cagle went back to teaching students how to fly and also enrolled in

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,00 ...

. She continued to be involved in the

. In 1964, she competed in the International Women's Air Race. In 1986, she became a member of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Team. In 1988, Cagle became the second woman to graduate with an airframe and powerplant mechanic's rating from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. She was still flying her single-engine

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturi ...

in 1998 at age 73, even though she had retired from teaching at

Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...

. On April 26, 2003, Cagle was inducted into the

Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame The Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame recognizes aviation pioneers and contributors associated with the state of Georgia. The museum was created in 1989 by Governor Joe Frank Harris signing House Bill 110. The law called for a 15-member board to overs ...

. In 2007, she and eight of the Mercury 13 graduates earned an honorary doctorate from the

University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

Death

Cagle died on December 22, 2019.

References

External links

Myrtle K. Thompson Cagle Collection

Cagle and her Cessna
(1998) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cagle, Myrtle 1925 births People from Johnston County, North Carolina People from Macon, Georgia 2019 deaths American women aviators Aviators from Georgia (U.S. state) Mercury 13 Aviators from North Carolina