Jean Gardner Batten, a strikingly beautiful New Zealand woman, became one of the worlds most popular and famous pilots when she established several individual flight distance records in the 1930s. Some of her marks would stand for almost half a century, while others she would better on her own. Batten was extremely close to her mother and thrived on parental attention. She also liked the international acclaim she received. Regardless of her public image, however, Batten possessed some dark qualities. Sometimes she used her feminine charms to manipulate men into providing her with the means to achieve her recordsetting goals. She was also very eccentric and reclusive, which when coupled with her glamour and fame, was why Ian Mackersey, Battens leading biographer, dubbed Batten The Garbo of the Skies.

Website: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/batten/EX24.htm