The gals at the
International Women's Air & Space Museum are paying tribute to nearly a century's worth of aviation history in a new deck of playing cards that went on sale last month. But the museum's suits are still grumbling that they couldn't include all the famous female pilots who trailblazed the friendly skies. "It kills me that there are certain women that were not in the deck," says Toni Mullee, the museum's director. "It was so difficult that we're starting to work on a second batch."The 52-card deck and three extra wild cards spotlight some of the nation's most adventurous women aviators, like Amelia Earhart and the first six women ever to fly in space. One card features Harriet Quimby, who, in 1911, became the first woman licensed to fly and was killed the following year in a plane crash over her native Boston. Another card highlights 77-year-old Caroline "Connie" Luhta, a former museum board president, who still runs a private airfield in Concord. And the museum has erected a display of aviation memorabilia to go along with the $10 decks. "It's more than just making a few dollars for us to live another day," says Mullee. "It's been great talking with families and learning about more women than I ever knew who had done so many remarkable things." The cards and exhibit are on display between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily through Sunday, February 24, at the International Women's Air & Space Museum, 1501 North Marginal Road. Admission is free. Call 216-623-1111 or visit
www.iwasm.org.
Dec. 26-Feb. 24, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., 2007
