Mistress of the Air by Dorothy Carter

Mistress of the Air was written in 1939, a light adventure encouraging young women to fly.

Marise was already an accomplished pilot, having trained with her commercial pilot father, so it's no surprise she won the King's Cup Air Race, out-flying a Moth and a Hawk in her Vega Gull.

She is offered a position as flying instructor at a school near Kent, impressing the male instructors who treat her as an equal. Two of her serious students are Pauline and her Nan, Lady Wilhelmina—and you'd rather sing the Red Flag at Fascist Headquarters than tell her she's too old to do it. They celebrate achieving their pilot licenses at their stately manor home where Marise learns the reason they want to fly: Lady Wilhelmina's husband discovered a stash of golden pirate treasure on a barren island while cruising the North Pacific and only told his wife before his ship went down. Now is the time to retrieve it. Marise, Pauline, Lady Wilhelmina, and friend General Barclay fly west at 3,000ft altitude across the Atlantic and America to Honolulu and further to the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu) in an amphibian aircraft they name Mistress of the Air. There, they find adventure in shark-infested waters and get kidnapped by a hateful man calling himself a distant cousin who has pursued them in his yacht.

These flying adventures in aircraft like dirigibles and amphibian clippers are usually found in boys' series; winning an air race around the globe, or combat flights glamorizing the excitement of shooting down enemies. Girls' series often emphasized nursing as an entry to war work, so it is refreshing that this series encourages young women to enter the skies as accomplished pilots.

The next in this series is Star of the Air (Marise stunt flies for Hollywood and gets kidnapped by a Mexican bandit), and Snow Queen of the Air (Marise maps a new air route across the frozen north, fulfilling an Indian legend of a snow queen appearing on a large bird to bring fortune). If I found those I'd read them, as this does not talk down to the readers, and the pace was steady. Exciting and enjoyable of an evening.

1939 / Hardcover / 156 pages