Myrtle Cagle

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 and 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]

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]

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 Institute of Technology.[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]