Me and the Sky: Captain Beverley Bass, Pioneering Pilot, Bass Beverley, Williams Cynthia

When Beverley Bass was a young girl in the late 1950s, she told her parents she wanted to fly planes--and they told her that girls couldnt be pilots. Still, they encouraged her, and brought her to a nearby airport to watch the planes take off and land.

After decades of refusing to take no for an answer, in 1986 Beverley became the first female pilot promoted to captain by American Airlines and led the first all-female crewed flight shortly thereafter. Her revolutionary career became even more newsworthy when she was forced to land in the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to US airspace closures. After several days there, she flew her crew and passengers safely home.

Beverleys incredible life is now immortalized in the hit Broadway musical Come from Away. Here, discover how she went from an ambitious young girl gazing up at the sky to a groundbreaking pilot smiling down from the cockpit.