Where the Sky Begins

Florence “Pancho” Barnes—heiress, rebel, and the most colorful pilot in America—can outfly, outswear, and outdrive any man. When Hollywood tries to turn the first—ever cross—country National Women’s Air Derby into a publicity stunt with movie starlets and their male “mechanics” doing the real flying, Pancho rallies the greatest female aviators of the era to fight back.

Alongside aviation legends Ameli...