飛行家をめざした女性たち

『飛行家をめざした女性たち』
平木国夫（民間航空史）
新人物往来社（1992）

戦前日本の女性飛行家の伝記集。

この本の内容を中心に、このころに活躍した女性飛行家たち紹介する。

I will introduce some female pilots from in the early stages of the aviation circles in the East.

Hyodo Tadashi
6 April 1899 - 23 April 1980. Birth place: North Ube county in Ehime prefecture
She learned about airplanes at Ito Airplane Research Institute in Tsudanuma. She had an interesting episode. She had taken off on training plane which was not able to fly because she was too light, 40kg. She failed landing and broke the airplane. On 24 March 1922, she got a third-class airplane license. She was the first female airplane pilot in Japan. The scandal with a man that was spread by newspaper expelled her from the airplane circles, and then she was never able to ride an airplane again.

Ninamiji Yone
24 November 1890 - 3 November 1980. Birth place: Nishimuro county in Wakayama prefecture.
In August 1912, she got a airplane license at Schiller airplane school in Dominguez airport in U.S. She was the first Japanese female airplane pilot.

Imai Komatsu
13 August 1899 - 19 March 1984. Birth place: Shimofukuchiyama county in Kyoto prefecture.
She had the pen name "Kumoi Tatsuko". Imai was her maiden name, so after she married, she was called Nishihara. She watched at the performance of Katherine Stinson and decided to become a pilot. She learned flying from Negishi Kinzo at the First Airplane School in Shiota airport in Tsurumi county in Kanagawa prefecture. In 1923, she got a third-class pilot license. She was going to make money by flying to search for fish, but she did not succeed. In July 1928, she got off a airplane and opened a cafe named "Tsubasa"(meaning wings).

Kibe Shigeno
12 Nobember 1903 - 29 July 1980. Birth place: Chikujo county in Fukuoka prefecture.
On 5 May 1923, she entered the First Airplane School at Shiota airport in Tsurumi county in Kanagawa prefecture. She always wore a formal suit for males. She was very popular so her pictures sold very well. In 1930, when she was 33 years old, she stopped flying.

Park Kwang-yong
24 July 1901 - 7 August 1933. Birth place: Taegu City Kyongsang-Do in Korea.
She was 168cm, which was very tall for women at that time. On 1 February 1926, she entered Tokyo Nippon Airplane school in Tokyo. In 1927, she got a third-class pilot license. When a reporter asked her about boyfriends, she answered "My boyfriend is my airplane." In 1928, she got a second-class pilot license. In 1933, she tried to fly over the Korean Strait, but she crashed into Gengadake Mountain in Atami city and died.

Kwon Ki-ok
11 January 1901 - 7 August 1933. Birth place: Sangsugu Village in Pyongyang in North Korea.
After watching the airplane show of Art Smith, she decided to become a pilot. In 1923, she entered into the Yunnan airforce school and graduated at March in 1925. She became a captain of Central Airforce of the Kuomintang in China. She was the first Korean female pilot.

Kitamura Kaneko
26 November 1903 - 26 July 1931. Birth place: Osaka prefecture in Japan.
She was a friend of Park Kyonwon. She always wore a blue and brilliant clothes, which was the exact opposite from simplicity of Park Kyonwon. She was a journalist and she wrote five books. Her literary style was sharp and humorous. She was good at language and made a speech at International Convention for Women's Suffrage in German and English. She entered Tokyo Nippon Airplane school in Kachikawa. In April the next year, she got an airplane license. She planned to fly to Europe, suddenly she caught appendicitis and died.

Uemura Suzuko
14 February 1912 - 30 January 1973 Birth place: Oono county in Gifu prefecture.
29 Sptember 1930, she entered to the Nippon Light Airplane Club at Kidanuma coast. She achieved single-handedly nonstop flight alone from Tokyo to Oosaka.

Matsumoto Kiku
20 November 1912 - 6 October 1979. Birth place: Kodama county in Saitama prefecture.
She practiced flying by using a water plane at Ando Airplane institute in Chita peninsula in Aichi prefecture. On 22 October 1934, she flew to Manchuria. She was the first female pilot who flew over the Korean Strait. She had a boyfriend. When her boyfriend's father because seriously ill, her boyfriend found a girl who looked like Kiku and showed her to his father. That girl and he got married. Kiku broke up with him. In the Pacific War, she volunteered to participate as a pilot who airlifts the war patients, but the airforce did not permit her to.

Mabuchi Chouko
5 June 1911 - 23 May 1985. Birth place: Hirosaki City in Hokkaido.
She entered Asian Airplane school at Tokyo Suzaki airport. In 26 October 1934, she flew to Manchuria after Matsumoto Kiku.

Tanaka Atsuko
26 January 1914 - .
Her maiden name was Nishimura. She worked as clerk at Tanaka Airplane institute, and then she got an airplane license because the director, Tanaka, recommended she get one. She was very beautiful so she appeared in movie as an actress.

Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!

タグ：平木国夫