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Olive Ann Beech (née Mellor) (1903 –1993) was born in Kansas in 1903. She began her aviation career as a bookkeeper and secretary at Travel Air Manufacturing Company in 1925. She soon moved up in the company to become the personal secretary of Walter Beech, one of the co-founders of Travel Air Manufacturing Company. They married in 1930 and when that company was sold, Walter and Olive Ann established their own company, Beechcraft in 1932. Olive Ann took control of the company when Walter became ill in 1940, and after he died in 1950, she became company president, becoming the first woman to head a major aircraft corporation. She led the company through WWII and the space race into the 1980s. In 1980, the Raytheon Company acquired Beechcraft and Olive Ann was elected to the Board of Directors. #52Objects #OliveAnnBeech photograph: Olive Ann Beech c. 1980 SFO Museum Collection 2002.066.032
This image was posted on September 25, 2023.