WIAA -Women's International Association of Aeronautics (pre WASPs)

[rathbonemuseum.com]

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

This token came up for auction. While I can't validate the connection to Howard Hughes, it does give some background on the organization. @vintageproductions @pfrost

[pfrost]

That is pretty neat.  Many of the women of the WIAA were social pillars of the community and were also married to wealthy and politically connected men. Not all by any means, but the WIAA would probably be seen as a non-government organization (NGO) involved in aid/charity activist organization (as well as women aviation promotion).  I believe that Ms Lippincott McQueen had observed the use of airplanes during WWI and had become convinced that aviation would become so effective and powerful a force that war as we  knew it would end (a fairly farsighted observation, if not exactly true).  She believed that women in aviation could serve their country effectively and founded the WIAA as a mechanism to achieve those ends.  I think she saw a "universal" aviation based police force that would be able to maintain peace and avoid war.  This was not a unique idea, and was shared by many of the early pioneers of women aviation.

 

It seems reasonable that Howard Hughes, himself an early pioneer in aviation, would be a benefactor of the WIAA.