Myrtle Cagle

Myrtle "Kay" Thompson Cagle (June 3, 1925 – December 22, 2019) was an American pilot and one of the Mercury 13 female astronauts group. She worked as a flight instructor and wrote about aviation in North Carolina.

Myrtle Cagle
Myrtle Cagle in 1995
Born
Myrtle K. Thompson

(1925-06-03)June 3, 1925
DiedDecember 22, 2019(2019-12-22) (aged 94)
Georgia, United States, North America
Known forMercury 13, aviation

Biography

Pre-Mercury 13

Cagle was born on June 3, 1925 in North Carolina.[1][2] Cagle had always wanted to fly from a young age.[2] When she was 12, her brothers taught her to fly using the plane they owned.[1][3] When she "earned her wings" at the age of 14, she was the youngest pilot in North Carolina,[2] and at the time, may have been the youngest in the United States.[1] She joined the high school's aeronautics class, when the school's instructor was drafted to fight in World War II, she finished out her year as the teacher.[1] As a Flight Instructor she was nicknamed, "Captain K".[1] Cagle earned her private pilot's license when she was nineteen.[1]

Cagle joined the Civil Air Patrol, the Ninety-Nines, and wanted to become a WASP.[1][4] Cagle went on to run an airport near Raleigh and her own charter plane service.[1] In 1950, she earned a trophy in the Powder Puff Derby.[5] She earned her Commercial Pilots license with Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land ratings and Instrument ratings by 1951.[1] She was also a certified Flight Instructor, Flight Instrument Instructor and Ground Instructor.[1] Her flight school was located in Selma.[6]

Cagle began writing a column called "Air Currents" in 1946 for the Johnstonian Sun newspaper in Selma.[1] Later the column was moved to the Raleigh News and Observer from 1953 to 1960.[1] When she flew a T-33 jet trainer, she became one of only five women who had "ever piloted a jet."[2]

Mercury 13

Cagle married former pupil, Walt Cagle, in 1960.[2][7] Her wedding dress was made from parachutes.[8] She moved to Macon, Georgia, in 1961. Not long after she arrived, she was invited to participate in the new Women in Space Program.[9] Cagle had 4,300 hours of flying time by the time the program started.[8] Cagle and the twelve other women participants eventually became known as the "Mercury 13."[10] During the program, Cagle was warned by the administrators not to become pregnant.[2] Among the multitude of tests she underwent as part of the program, she noted that one of the worst tests she faced was having her eardrums frozen.[2]

Post-Mercury 13
Plaque of Cagle at the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame

Cagle went back to teaching students how to fly and also enrolled in Mercer University.[1][3] She continued to be involved in the Civil Air Patrol.[11] In 1964, she competed in the International Women's Air Race.[3] In 1986, she became a member of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Team.[1][8] In 1988, Cagle became the second woman to graduate with an airframe and powerplant mechanic's rating from the Georgia Technical Institute.[1][8] She was still flying her single-engine Cessna in 1998 at age 73, even though she had retired from teaching at Robins Air Force Base.[12][2] On April 26, 2003, Cagle was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.[13] In 2007, she and eight of the Mercury 13 graduates earned an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.[14]

Death

Cagle died on December 22, 2019.[15]

References
  1. "Cagle, Myrtle K Thompson". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  2. "Veteran Pilot Cagle Had the Right Stuff". The Greenville News. 22 October 1998. Retrieved 2018-04-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Two Women Astronauts Arrive for Air Race". The Monitor. 8 May 1964. Retrieved 2018-04-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Weitekamp, Margaret A. (2005). Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space Program. JHU Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780801883941.
  5. "Aerial Show Set Sunday In Hendersonville". Asheville Citizen-Times. 6 July 1951. Retrieved 2018-04-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Thrill Packed Air Show Is Slated". Statesville Daily Record. 18 September 1952. Retrieved 2018-04-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "The U.S. Team is Still Warming Up the Bench". LIFE. 54 (26): 32. 28 June 1963 – via Google Books.
  8. "Myrtle K Tompson Cagle Collection" (PDF). International Women's Air & Space Museum. July 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  9. "First Lady Astronaut Trainees". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  10. Nelson, Sue (15 April 1997). "Space: The Final Frontier". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-04-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Hallonquist, Al. "Myrtle Cagle". Mercury 13 - the Women of the Mercury Era. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  12. Merzer, Martin (27 October 1998). "Women's Hopes Dashed". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2018-04-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Myrtle "Kay" Cagle". Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  14. Roe, Bobbi (July 2007). "Mercury 13 Receive Honorary Doctorates from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh" (PDF). 99 News. 33 (4): 100.
  15. "She 'danced in the clouds' and tore down barriers. Pilot, Mercury 13 icon passes away". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
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