Dora Dougherty Strother was born Nov. 27, 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Strother became the sixth woman in the United States to earn an airline transport pilot license in 1940. She volunteered with W.A.S.P. (Women’s Air force Service Pilots) and was selected in the third class of WASP program (43-3) during World War II. She ferried planes, towed targets, and flew drones before she, along with Dorothea Johnson Moorman, was asked by Col. Paul Tibbets to learn how to fly the B-29 bomber in 1944. Strother was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force on December 20, 1944, having commanded 23 different aircraft.
Strother received her AA from Cottey College, PhB from Northwestern, MS from University of Illinois, and PhD Aviation Education from NYU (1955). She began work at the University of Illinois and taught flight courses (1944-1949) and also in airfields across the United States, teaching pilots and ferrying aircraft. From 1962-1986 she worked for Bell Helicopters and held two world flight records for Rotorcraft in Altitude and distance (1961-1966). After 20 years in the Air Force Reserve, she retired with the rank of Lt. Col from 9823rd Air Reserve Squadron, Ft. Worth, TX. In addition, Strother was a licensed psychologist in the State of Texas, a founding fellow of the Human Factors Society of America, a member of numerous psychology, aviation associations, and philanthropic organizations. A recipient of the Amelia Earhart Award for academic achievement, she was also an inductee in the Military Aviation Hall of Fame, awarded the Achievement Award by the American Association of University Women (1966), and an inductee to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame (1987). She was married twice to Lester Strother and Harry McKeown and died Nov. 19 2013 in Texas.
