Leda Richberg-Hornsby was an American pilot and suffragist.
12 Facts About Leda Richberg-Hornsby
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby was the first female graduate of the Wright Flying School in Dayton, Ohio, and the eighth woman in the United States to receive a pilot's license.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby was born in November 1886 in Chicago, the youngest of three children, to Eloise Olivia Richberg and John Carl Richberg.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby's mother was a physician, professor, writer, and suffragist.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby's maternal grandmother, Marenda Briggs Randall, was a physician and suffragist.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby's father was a lawyer who served for four years as President of the Chicago Board of Education; his administration saw the establishment of equal pay for women educators and the elimination of bible readings from schools.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby began her studies with Max Lillie while living with her parents in Chicago.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby was able to save herself by holding the biplane level and effecting a pancake landing.
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Around the same time, Leda Richberg-Hornsby announced her intention of flying to Palm Beach, Florida, in hopes of breaking the American distance record then held by Ruth Law.
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In November 1916, Leda Richberg-Hornsby earned a commission as Lieutenant in the US Aviation Reserve Corps, organized by Albert Bond Lambert.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby subsequently tried to join the US Flying Corps in France, but the French government refused to accept a woman.
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Leda Richberg-Hornsby ultimately returned to Chicago, where she died of heart failure on August 25,1939.