Pancho Barnes (1901-1975) was a badass aviator and Hollywood stunt pilot who broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record in 1930. She later founded the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club, a desert ranch and bar near Edwards Air Force Base that became a legendary hangout for test pilots during the golden age of aviation. Aviation folklore has it that Chuck Yeager and other breaking-the-sound-barrier pioneers may have frequented the establishment.

Willa Brown (1906-1992) was a pioneering African American aviator, educator, and civil rights activist who broke significant barriers in aviation. She became the first African American woman to earn a commercial pilot's license in the United States and co-founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Chicago, which trained hundreds of pilots including many of the famous Tuskegee Airmen.