Women Pilots

Georgia (Tiny) Broadwick was the first woman to parachute from an airplane. The American got her start in 1907 as the Doll Girl barnstorming with The Broadwicks and their Famous French Aeronauts. Her first successful parachute jump was on June 21, 1913. Tiny was an honorary 99 of the Long Beach chapter. By the time of her last jump in 1922, Tiny had parachuted over 1,000 times! Tiny Broadwick started her career at 16 as a 5 feet, 80 pounds aeronaut. She partnered with Charles Broadwick (who later adopted her) in 1908 and they performed at carnivals in which Tiny would jump from the balloon, shock the crowd, then pull her parachute. Later, she jumped from airplanes as well--the first woman to do so. She was called "Doll Girl" in her early stunts because Charles dressed her in a frilly child's style, which she hated. She performed over 1000 jumps and survived many serious accidents. She became an adviser for the Army Air Corps and received numerous awards in her lifetime, passing away at age 85.