LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Female pilot Nancy Harkness Love broke barriers.

Nancy developed a passion for aviation at age 16 when she took a ride with a barnstormer pilot. While attending college, she earned her pilot’s license, but due to the Great Depression, her family couldn’t afford her tuition, and she ended up moving to Boston. There, a man named Bob Love hired her to demonstrate to customers how airplanes flew. She later married Bob and continued to work as a pilot. When World War II broke out, Love advocated for women to ferry planes for the military and then went on to lead the Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron, which merged with another program, becoming the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Though slightly prolonged, the focus on Love’s early life fleshes out both her daring personality and the fascinating path that led her to leading the women’s ferrying division of WASP. The downplaying of the sexism Love faced, both when becoming a professional pilot and in military service, combines with bland character designs to belie the unique role in history Love and the other WASP pilots played, but an author’s note gives greater detail regarding who the other original WASPs were and what they accomplished. Love and most other characters present white. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A straightforward biography that may inspire an interest in history and aviation.