Jean Dougherty Strother (b. 1921) (center), with Bell president E.J. Ducayet (right) and Bell chief test pilot R.C. Buyers (left). Strother was a Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and B-29 Superfortress demonstration pilot; a U.S. military pilot; a human factors engineer with Bell Aircraft; an instructor at the University of Illinois; and helicopter test pilot for Bell Aircraft. In 1961, when this photograph was taken, she had just broken a helicopter altitude record (at 19,406 feet) in a Bell 47G-3. Strother earned the first Ph.D. in aviation science from New York University. She is recipient of the Amelia Earhart Award for academic achievement and is an inductee in the Military Aviation Hall of Fame.