Pearl Laska Chamberlain
Pearl Laska Chamberlain learned to fly in a Kinner Fleet bi-plane in 1933 and held a pilot’s certificate until she was 97.
Prior to World War II, the federal government established the Civilian Pilot Training Program, a back-door method to train pilots for military service.
She was a W.A.S.P. trainee during the war and was honorably discharged.
In 1945, following her dream to be a full-time pilot, Pearl moved to Nome, Alaska and worked as a flight instructor and bush pilot.
The next year she became the first woman to solo a single-engine airplane up the Alaska Highway.
The FAA recognized her achievements as a pioneer Alaska aviator in 2006.
Scorning the belief that Alaska Natives were unable to learn flying, she taught many, including Holger Jorgensen, who became the first Native hired as a pilot by a scheduled air line.
In 2007 she received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.
