Ann Shaw Carter

Ann Shaw Carter (December 5, 1922 – September 26, 2005) was an American pilot who was the first female commercial helicopter pilot and the second woman to fly a helicopter, after the German pilot, Hanna Reitsch.

Carter was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 5, 1922, and moved to Fairfield, Connecticut, as a child.

After the end of the war, she was the first American woman to learn to pilot a helicopter, receiving her commercial helicopter license on June 12, 1947, more than nine years after Hannah Reitsch's demonstration flight in February 1938. She became a pilot with the Metropolitan Aviation Corporation, piloting New York City sightseeing trips and charter flights. In 1955, she was one of the six founding members of the Whirly-Girls, which dubbed her "Whirly Girl #2"; she was one of several society members to meet President John F. Kennedy in a visit to the White House in 1961. One of the helicopters that she flew was preserved by the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Her aviation career was cut short by polio towards the end of the 1950s.

Later life In later life, Carter continued to live in Fairfield, Connecticut. She was married to Edward Carter (died 2004); the couple had three children.