vintagesmith:

Chinese Aviatrix Receives Gift Of New Plane From Colonel Roscoe Turner, Washington, D.C., 1939 

Here’s what you need to know: Hilda Yen was awesome. Born into a highly influential Chinese family, she earned degrees from both Smith College AND Yale. Yen was spoken of in the same breath with the likes of her contemporary, Amelia Earhart. She took her flying skill to China to instruct others on how to fly. In the picture above, she accepts a gift of an airplane, on behalf of the “Friends Of New China,” from American military officer, Colonel Roscoe Turner.

A month later the plane nearly killed her when she crashed into a field, but she bounced back, advocating for China the rest of her life.