Biography

Anésia Pinheiro Machado (Itaí, June 5, 1904 - Rio de Janeiro, May 10, 1999) was a Brazilian aviator. She was the second woman to obtain an aviator's license in Brazil and the first to perform a solo flight in Brazilian skies. She became known worldwide for her activism in feminist causes and for her aerial conquests throughout her life. In May 1940, Mrs. Ulysses Grant McQuenn, president of the Women's International Association of Aeronautics, on a visit to Brazil, praised Anesia's performance after watching an acrobatic display by the Brazilian aviator on a Bücker Jungman training plane in Rio de Janeiro.