The first American to earn an international pilot’s license (in 1921), Bessie Coleman was a cool Texan from Waxahachie who bought her first biplane at Love Field in Dallas: an old JN-4 ("Jenny") with an OX-5 engine. With it she became a sensational barnstormer and occasional parachutist. But in 1926 she fell to her death from its open cockpit when the plane went out of control. Nowadays she’s memorialized all over the place, including the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame–and in at least one book.
Inspired by Miriam’s Ideas.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
