Gene Nora Jessen

Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen was an American aviator and a member of Mercury 13. Jessen worked throughout her career as a flight instructor, demonstration pilot, advisor to the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and president of the Ninety-Nines. Jessen has also written about flying and the history of women in flight.

Biography

Jessen grew up in Chicago.[1] Jessen began flying while in her junior year of high school.[2] During that time, she joined the Civil Air Patrol, where one of the students she flew with allowed her to fly the plane sometimes and told her that she was a "natural."[3][4] Jessen attended Oklahoma University (OU), where she continued to fly and also played cello in the school's symphony orchestra.[5] She was also in the school's flight club, known as the "Air Knockers."[6] While still taking classes at OU, in 1959, Jessen became the first woman to work as a flight instructor for the school.[7] During her time at OU, she earned seven collegiate-level flying trophies.[8] Jessen graduated from OU in 1961.[5] Also in 1961, Jessen was one of 13 women to go through astronaut training with the Mercury 13.[9] Wally Funk was the person who told Jessen about the astronaut testing and soon after finding out about the program, Jessen applied with her flying credentials.[10] She was accepted and quit her job as a flight instructor.[10] After passing the tests,[11] she was set to go to Florida for Navy training, but the project was cancelled.[4]

Jessen went to work for Beechcraft in 1962 and moved to Wichita, Kansas.[12][8] Jessen would pilot planes for demonstration purposes for the company.[13] She later embarked on a 90-day cross-country flight with fellow pilot, Joyce Case, in a Beechcraft Musketeer airplane.[8][14] She eventually was rated to fly the entire line of their aircraft.[15] She met her husband, Bob Jessen, at Beechcraft and after their marriage, they moved to Boise, Idaho in 1967 where they established their own Beechcraft dealership.[15][16]

Jessen was on the women's advisory committee to the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and had been appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[1] Between 1988 and 1990, she was President of the Ninety-Nines.[17] In 2007, Jessen and the other Mercury 13 women received honorary doctorates at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO).[18] This was the first time they had been honored as a group.[18]

In 2017, Jessen began to experience macular degeneration in her left eye and was forced to stop flying.[4]

Writing

Jessen's 2018 book, Sky Girls, is a chronicle of the 1929 Powder Puff Derby.[19] Jessen personally interviewed many of the original pilots who flew in the race.[19] Sky Girls was previously published under the title The Powder Puff Derby of 1929.[20] Publishers Weekly called the first version of the book a "well-wrought bit of Americana."[21]

Selected bibliography
  • Sixty and counting: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Collection, 1929-1989. Oklahoma: Ninety-Nines. 1989. OCLC 44424012.
  • The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks. 2002. ISBN 9781570717697.
  • The Fabulous Flight of the Three Musketeers: A Rollicking Airplane Adventure With a Few Thrills. Charleston, South Carolina: BookSurge Publishing. 2009. ISBN 9781439231517.
  • Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks. 2018. ISBN 9781492664475.
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References
  1. Duffy, Beverley (1964-11-19). "Women Find Flying Easy, Aviatrix Says". The Gazette. p. 18. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  2. "Coed Pilot Named New 'Sky Queen' at Flying Meet". The Oklahoma Daily. 1957-05-07. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Sanders, Flo (1957-05-29). "A 'Natural' -- That's OU's Sky Queen". The Norman Transcript. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Godlewski, Nina (2018-04-16). "Mercury 13: Gene Nora Jessen on Netflix's new documentary about the women who were tested for spaceflight in 1961". Newsweek. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  5. "Roll Call: News and Events in the Lives of Sooner Alumni" (PDF). Sooner Magazine: 22. October 1963.
  6. Billingsley, Ann (1957-11-12). "Students With 'Flying Bug' Join 'Air Knockers' Club". The Oklahoma Daily. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Coed Teaches Students to Fly". The Oklahoma Daily. 1959-10-30. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "They're Up in the Air". Quad-City Times. 1962-10-05. p. 30. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "The U.S. Team is Still Warming Up the Bench". LIFE. 54 (26): 32. 28 June 1963.
  10. Ackmann, Martha (2003). The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight. New York: Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-58836-037-3.
  11. "Woman Pilots Lack Know-How to be Lady Astronauts". Tyler Morning Telegraph. 1963-06-28. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "To Describe Her Training as Astronaut". The Gazette. 1964-11-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "New Beech Airplane". The News Journal. 1962-09-11. p. 45. Retrieved 2020-03-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "'Musketeers' to Land Here". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1962-09-10. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  15. "Gene Nora Sumbough Jessen". Mercury 13. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  16. "Idaho Aviation Hall of Fame". Idaho Aviation Association. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  17. Roe, Bobbi (July 2007). "Mercury 13 Receive Honorary Doctorates From the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh" (PDF). 99 News. 33 (4): 7.
  18. Wolff, Patricia (2007-05-12). "Mercury 13 Land at UWO". The Oshkosh Northwestern. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-03-21 – via Newspapers.com. and "Mercury 13: Women to Receive Honorary Doctorates at UWO". The Oshkosh Northwestern. 2007-05-12. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-03-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Siegel, Henrey (2019). "Sky Girls". Aviation History. 29 (5): 68 – via EBSCOhost.
  20. Jessen, Gene Nora (2018). Sky girls: the true story of the first women's cross-country air race. ISBN 978-1-4926-6447-5. OCLC 1064663847.
  21. "The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
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