Biography
Schimmoler graduated from the Bliss Business College in Columbus, Ohio and began studies in law after working as a court stenographer. She left the study of law to become a secretary in a chicken hatchery in Bucyrus, Ohio that led her to become the owner of her own poultry business. [1]
Her life changed when she witnessed a test flight in Dayton. She began an intensive study of flight through working various jobs with the United States Air Mail, Lockheed Aircraft where she studied the manufacture of aircraft and the US Weather Bureau earning a student pilot licence on August 10, 1929, and becoming the advertising manager of her flight school. She became the first woman to establish and maintain an airport that was located in Bucyrus. She received her full pilot's licence on September 8, 1930.
In 1932 in recognition of her works in aviation, she was inducted into the Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots.
After witnessing the results of a tornado in Ohio in 1930, [2] Schimmoler saw the necessity of evacuating medical patients by air and created what today is recognised as the forerunners of the flight nurse. In 1933 she formed the Emergency Flight Corps. [3] In 1936 it was reformed as the Aerial Nurse Corps of America with 78 nurses.
Initially, both the American Red Cross and the United States Army Air Forces took a dim view of the Aerial Nurse Corps. However, during World War II a medical air ambulance evacuation squadron was formed in May 1942. During this time Shimmoler became the technical advisor to and played a role in the Columbia Pictures film Parachute Nurse that was released in August 1942.
The United States Army Air Forces changed their minds on flight nurses and on 30 November 1942 made an appeal for experienced female registered nurses and air hostesses to be flight nurses in the Army Nurse Corps to be assigned to air evacuation units. [4] [5]
In 1944 she, at last, was commissioned in the Women's Army Corps.
Schimmoler became the first post commander of the American Legion's Amelia Earhardt Post 127 of Glendale, California in 1946 [6] that initially contained woman veterans.
In 1966 Schimmoler was recognised by the Surgeon General of the United States as the first flight nurse [7] and by the United States Air Force who awarded her the gold wings of a flight nurse. [8]
A flight surgeon is a military medical officer practicing in the clinical field of aviation medicine. Although the term "flight surgery" is considered improper by purists, it may occasionally be encountered.
Jacqueline Cochran was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation as one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation. She set numerous records and was the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. Cochran was the wartime head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (1943–1944), which employed about 1000 civilian American women in a non-combat role to ferry planes from factories to port cities. Cochran was later a sponsor of the Mercury 13 women astronaut program.
The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established by Congress in 1908; however, unofficially, women had been working as nurses aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals for nearly 100 years. The Corps was all-female until 1965.
Most professional militaries employ specialised military nurses or nursing sisters. They are often organised as a distinct nursing corps. Florence Nightingale formed the first nucleus of a recognised Nursing Service for the British Army during the Crimean War in 1854. In the same theatre of the same war, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna originated Russian traditions of recruiting and training military nurses – associated especially with besieged Sevastopol (1854–1855). Following the war Nightingale fought to institute the employment of women nurses in British military hospitals, and by 1860 she had succeeded in establishing an Army Training School for military nurses at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital in Netley, Hampshire, England.
Aeromedical evacuation (AE) usually refers to the use of military transport aircraft to carry wounded personnel.
Ann Agnes Bernatitus was a United States Navy nurse who served during World War II. She was the first American recipient of the Legion of Merit.
The term military medicine has a number of potential connotations. It may mean:
The U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps ensures the health of military personnel and their family members.
Aleda Ester Lutz was a United States Army flight nurse. She was the first American servicewoman to be killed in combat during World War II, and the first military woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, which she received posthumously. She is the second-highest decorated woman in the history of the U.S. military.
The United States Army Nurse Corps (USANC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1901. It is one of the six medical special branches of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The ANC is the nursing service for the U.S. Army and provides nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense medical plans. The ANC is composed entirely of Registered Nurses (RNs) but also includes Nurse Practitioners.
Brigadier General Carmelita Vigil-Schimmenti is a retired officer of the United States Air Force, who in 1985 became the first Hispanic female to attain the rank of Brigadier General. Vigil-Schimmenti was the Chief of the United States Air Force Nurse Corps, Office of the Surgeon General; Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
Opal Kunz was an early American aviator, the chief organizer of the Betsy Ross Air Corps, and a charter member of the Ninety-Nines organization of women pilots. In 1930, she became the first woman pilot to race with men in an open competition. She made many public appearances to urge more women to take up flying.
Parachute Nurse is a 1942 Columbia Pictures film about the Aerial Nurse Corps. The film was directed by Charles Barton.
Ruth M. Gardiner was a nurse in the United States Army Nurse Corps. She served in the Alaskan Theater and rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Gardiner was the first Army Nurse Corps' flight nurse killed while serving in World War II. She was one of a group of six nurses in Alaska that assisted in medical evacuations by plane. Gardiner was killed while on one such evacuation, when the aircraft on which she was traveling crashed.
Early Australian female aviators were generally active since 1927 when it became possible for an Australian woman to hold a pilot's licence and fly within Australia. Women had participated in gliding, or taken a licence overseas, but they had not been permitted to fly a plane under licence within Australia. The first Aero Club in Australia was established in 1915.
Helen Grace McClelland , a United States Army nurse, was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Cross and the British Royal Red Cross Medal for heroic actions during World War I while serving at a British Base Hospital in France. McClelland was one of only four women to receive the Distinguished Service Cross award during World War I. After returning to the United States, McClelland spent twenty-three years as Director of Pennsylvania Hospital's School of Nursing. In her role, McClelland advocated for the professionalization and modernization of nursing. McClelland was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1978.
Brigadier General Ethel Ann Hoefly was an American nurse and member of the United States Air Force. She served with the United States Army Nurse Corps during World War II and volunteered for service in the European Theater.
All branches of the Indian Armed Forces have women in combat roles. Women are allowed in combat services and supervisory roles. The Indian Air Force had 13.09% (2018) and 8.50% (2014) women; the Indian Navy 6% (2018) and 3% (2014); the Indian Army 3.80% (2018) and 3% (2014). As of 2020, three officers have the rank of lieutenant-general or equivalent, all in the Medical Services. In May 2021, 83 women were inducted as Jawans for the first time in the Indian Army, in the Corps of Military Police.
Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Redmond Hipps was a US Army nurse during World War II. She was present in the Philippines during the early part of the war and was regarded as one of the Angels of Bataan. A bestselling book she wrote about her experiences formed the background for the 1943 war movie So Proudly We Hail! Hipps helped to establish the United States Air Force's flight nurse program. She remained with the army until her retirement in 1969 and traveled the world on postings alongside her husband, a US Air Force general. The US Air Force Association's highest award for nursing is named in her honor.
The Aerial Nurse Corps of America abbreviated to ANCOA is regarded as the initiation of the Air Ambulance.
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