Great Women in Aviation #2 - Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes

These short biographies in the Great Women in Aviation Series tell the stories of notable women pilots whose passion for flight inspires young and old alike to take to the skies. This 2,700 word monograph is not meant to be a comprehensive history of “Pancho” Barnes’ life, but it discusses her involvement in aviation, and the positive message she conveys. The main purpose of this biography is to inspire youth to follow their dreams of flight. This will make an excellent source for a book report or other paper.


Florence Lowe "(Pancho") Barnes was born on July 29, 1901 and she lived at full throttle until she died in 1976. At the beginning of the Depression the pilots who worked for the oil companies had good jobs and received large sums of money. By then, Pancho had her own planes, and one of them the "Mystery Ship" was the fastest plane in the world. On August 5, 1930, Florence "Pancho" Barnes established a world speed record for women. Officials clocked her black and red monoplane at 196.19 mph.