The achievements of female flyers from 18th-century balloonists to today's astronauts. Women began to pilot airplanes in 1910 and by the 1930s had produced an abundance of record-makers, Amy Johnson, Amelia Earhart, Jean Batten and Beryl Markham. Throughout World War II and after, opportunities grew for women in the air forces, commercially and in space exploration. Fictional images of female flyers are considered in comic-strips, magazines and books, from W.E. John's Woralls to Mills and Boon romances. Generally, fictional aviatrices achieve success more easily than their real-life counterparts, becoming, especially to women, symbols of liberation and feminist achievement.