Hi there. I'm Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham. Stay tuned after the show to hear about my latest podcast, Moonrise. It's the dark but true story of why we went to the moon and what we found there. The full series is available now.

Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Amelia Earhart is probably the most famous female pilot of all time.

Her story, of course, is heartbreaking.

Celebrated for her record-shattering transatlantic flights,

Earhart vanished one summer day in 1937, attempting to fly around the world.

For decades, the tragedy of Earhart's mysterious disappearance

has consumed the imaginations of young schoolchildren, conspiracy theorists,

and amateur sleuths.

But it has also overshadowed the brave contributions of other female pilots defying gender roles

and pursuing their passion for the miracle of flight.

Like Ruth Law.

Four years before Earhart ever took off in a plane,

Law was making a name for herself in the clouds.

Like during the Liberty Loan parade when she buzzed around above the nation's capital,

astonishing throngs of parade goers below, including President Woodrow Wilson.

It was 1918, World War I.

The world was totally consumed not just by the war, but these early days of flight,

when pilots tried to one up each other, flying further and further. By then, Law had been flying for

six years. According to Smithsonian Magazine, she caught the flying bug from her older brother

Rodman, a stuntman

and daredevil. In 1912, Law asked the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, to give her flying

...