Marian Rice Hart was 54 years old when she learned to fly in 1945 and 70 when she flew a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza nonstop across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland. Fatigued from the 2,500-mile flight, she walked into the airport lounge upon her arrival, downed a large glass of whisky and said, "Now I feel better."
Though she made her original trans-Atlantic flight with a navigator, Hart subsequently made seven solo flights across the ocean and flew all over the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America to boot. In fact, she flew alone until she was 87, logging more than 5,000 hours in her three decades as an aviator. In 1976, she received the highly prized annual Harmon International Trophy "for her consistently outstanding performance as a private pilot operating small aircraft on a global scale." Hart wasn't just in-your-face. She was in the air.
