Lt Col Nancy B. Samuelson

"Someday, I dare say, women can be flyers and yet not be regarded as curiosities?"1

Amelia Earhart

The reentry of women into military flight training programs in the 1970s provoked an excessive amount of publication, especially when one realizes how few women actually entered these programs and how limited their duties were to be. Even the Air Force Times was guilty of some sensationalism in its article titled, "Dangers to Female Pilots to be Checked on Planes," yet the only problem the article identified was that flight suits and boots (designed for men, of course) were too large for women!2 Surely not a very serious problem nor a difficult one to solve.

After the WASP (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) was disbanded in 1944, military aviation was virtually closed to women. The civilian sector of society did not encourage women to enter flying occupations in the post-World War II era either. A number of the WASP and other female pilots attempted to enter commercial aviation, but they were discouraged in a variety of ways. Not until 1973 did a female pilot fly as a regular crew member of a scheduled American airline.3

Since women have been involved in aviation from the days of the early balloon flights and have piloted everything from balloons to space vehicles, why are women who fly still regarded as exceptions and curiosities? One of the answers to that question is obvious. The "now society" of our modern era, concerned with "real-time" events, "state-of-the-art" technologies, and "future shock" scenarios, spends little time studying and contemplating past history.

Even in such aviation-oriented communities as the Air Force, there is little knowledge of women's achievements in aviation. (The pioneering efforts of male pilots are not common knowledge either; however, documentation on male contributions is much easier to find than that covering female achievements.)

Another factor that has limited recognition of women's aviation contributions is a societal attitude that women in many other areas have encountered also. Simply put, women are discouraged in a variety of ways from entering nontraditional or hazardous jobs or careers. Certain views of the general population, statements and decisions of specific influential individuals, and many policies of institutions and government agencies have served to limit women's participation in aviation and other "manly" careers.

Yet the history of women in aviation is worth examining, and women's achievements in military aviation merit recognition. Similarly, in this era which out nation needs the maximal benefits of its human potential, it may be helpful to explore the role that specific individuals and institutions have had in discouraging women from entering or fully participating in aviation careers.

The Beginning through World War I

According to early records, women's involvement in aviation seems to have begun less than seven months after the first manned balloon flight: Madame Thible of Lyons, France, went for a balloon ride on 4 June 1784. During that same year, the famous balloonist Jean Pierre Blanchard began his flights; and twenty years later, in 1804, his young second wife (Marie-Madeleine-Sophie Armant Blanchard) made her first flight.

Madame Blanchard later was appointed as Chief of Napoleon's Air Service, replacing another great balloonist, M. Garnerin. Her primary duties seem to have been exhibition flying for the entertainment of crowds. Her career as the best-known woman aeronaut ended in July 1819, however, when her balloon caught fire from fireworks attached to it. She crashed near Tivoli Gardens and died of a broken neck.4

In 1903, about five months before the Wright Brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, Aida de Acosta made a solo flight in a dirigible powered with a three-horsepower engine. Brazilian air pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont built this craft. Miss De Acosta had expressed a great deal of curiosity about the machine, and Santos-Dumont had answered her questions and shown her how to operate it. She was photographed by a newspaper reporter while flying the machine over the suburbs of Paris. Her family was horrified at the publicity, and her mother extracted a promise from Santos-Dumont that he would never mention the episode in any of his writings.5

By 1910, aviation was already flourishing in both Europe and North America. In Europe, several women were gaining recognition. On 8 March 1910, Baroness Raymonde de la Roche passed a qualifying test and was issued a license by the Aero Club of France. She is believed to be the first woman in the world to receive a pilot's license. A few months later, she was seriously injured in a crash, but, fully recovered, she was racing again within two years. In 1913, the baroness won the Coupe Femina, an award established to honor women fliers. She was killed in 1919 when flying an experimental plane that crashed.

Meanwhile, in 1909, Hélène Dutrieu of Belgium began flying, and in May 1911, she entered a race in Florence, Italy. She was the only woman in the group of fifteen fliers competing, and she outflew her rivals to win the coveted Italian King's Cup. Later, she set a new world nonstop flight record for women, and in 1913, she was awarded France's Legion of Honor.6

In the United States, women were very much part of the action in aviation. Blanche Scott and Bessica Raiche were the first two American women to solo. Scott soloed on 2 September 1910, but there was considerable doubt about whether she intended to do so. A gust of wind may have caused her to become unexpectedly airborne, or she may have talked a mechanic into speeding up the governor in order to solo before her instructor, Glen Curtiss, thought she was ready.7

But there was no doubt about intent when Bessica Raiche flew solo on 16 September 1910. Subsequently, a month later, Raiche was honored by the Aeronautical Society of America (American Division of the Fédération Aeronautique International). Her award was a diamond-studded medal bearing the inscription, "First Woman Aviator in America." She and her husband designed and built aircraft and worked with the Wrights for a time. Later, she gave up flying and became a physician.8

Women who were not pilots supported aviation in other ways. Various stories about Katherine Wright's support of her brothers were reported. Some claimed that she contributed part of her salary as a school teacher to her brothers' aircraft business; others said that she actually assisted in various stages of construction of aircraft.

Most of these accounts have been dismissed today as "fables," yet we do know that Miss Wright traveled with her brothers, was feted at parades and other celebrations, and flew as a passenger with her brothers on occasion. Another aviation supporter was Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, who financed and named the Aerial Experiment Association. Other members of the group included Mr. Bell, Glen Curtiss, and Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge. Their objective was to advance the science of aviation.9

With the advent of World War I, a number of well-known female pilots volunteered for military service, but only a few were actually permitted to serve in the military. Hélène Dutrieu volunteered for war service with France's Air Patrol in 1914 and was accepted. She made flights from Paris to check on the location and movement of German troops.10

In Russia, Princess Eugenie M. Shakovskaya was assigned duty as an artillery and reconnaissance pilot; Lyubov A. Golanchikova, a test pilot, contributed her airplane to the czarist armies; Helen P. Samsonova was assigned to the 5th Corps Air Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot; Princess Sophie A. Dolgorukaya was a pilot and observer with the 26th Corps Air Squadron; and Nadeshda Degtereva was posted to the Galician Front, where she flew reconnaissance missions.11

In the United States, many women had established outstanding flying records, and several volunteered repeatedly for duty as military pilots. Congressman Murray Hulbert of New York introduced a bill in Congress to permit women to join the Flying Corps and go to France; however, the bill did not pass. Women then found other ways to support the war effort.12

The famous Stinson family was very active in aviation. Katherine was a well-known stunt flier. By age nineteen, she had flown in England, China, Japan, and Canada. In 1917, she set a new world nonstop distance record for both men and women. Her sister Marjorie was a licensed pilot also. The girls taught their brothers, Eddie and Jack, to fly; and in 1915, the Stinsons established San Antonio's Stinson Field and began a flight training school.

The brothers were later to found Stinson Aircraft Company, but in 1915, Katherine and Marjorie were the principal instructors at the school. Marjorie became known as "flying school marm." A number of Canadians trained at the school went on to England and received commissions in the Royal Naval Air Service. This group of students was referred to as the Texas Escadrille; all of its members were male.13

Katherine wanted to enlist as a fighter pilot but was turned down. She toured the country and collected pledges for nearly $2,000,000 for the Red Cross. Her nonstop distance record was established while she was touring the country on a Liberty Bond Drive. Later, she went to Europe as an ambulance driver. She became seriously ill as a result of her European service and never flew again after World War I.14

Other female pilots--Bernetta Miller, Alys McKey Bryant, and Helen Hodge--found other ways to serve. Miller joined the Women's Overseas Service League and went to the front as a canteen worker. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre and numerous American citations for her work. Bryant submitted repeated applications to fly in combat but ended up as a test pilot and instructor. For a time, she assisted the Goodyear Company in building military dirigibles. Hodge taught U.S. aviation cadets and made exhibition flights for the war effort.15

Ruth Law, another well-known stunt pilot, "bombed" American cities with circulars asking for Red Cross donations. She also made a 2500-mile cross-country flight to advertise Liberty Bonds. Air Corps officials decided that she would be of help in recruiting men to be pilots. She was authorized to wear a military uniform and posed for a number of recruiting posters. Although she was also authorized to teach military fliers, her fund-raising and recruiting activities left her little time for instructing.16

1920 to World War II

During the two decades following World War I, the field of aviation expanded by leaps and bounds. Records were set, only to be broken within weeks or days sometimes. Air races became popular, aviation clubs and associations were formed, oceans were crossed, transcontinental flights became common, and barnstormers and movie stunt pilots performed seemingly impossible feats of daring. Aviators went farther, faster, and higher than ever before--and women were a part of it all.

Ruth Law's name continued to be synonymous with stunt flying. Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie achieved similar fame as a stuntflier for the movies by her piloting in "The Perils of Pauline." Elinor Smith, at age seventeen, earned international acclaim and a reprimand from the Department of Commerce for flying under all four of the East River Bridges in New York City. Smith, Viola Gentry, and Bobbie Trout outdid each other in setting new endurance records for women.

Trout and Smith were the first civilian pilots to refuel in midair. In January 1929, they stayed in the air for 45 hours and 5 minutes. In January 1931, Trout and Edna May Cooper set another refueling record of 122 hours and 20 minutes. In August 1932, Louise Thaden and Frances Marsalis stayed aloft for more than eight days.17 (By contrast, on I January 1929, five pilots aboard the Question Mark set the first Air Corps refueling record of 150 hours and 40 minutes.)

One feminine name connected with aviation became a common household word--Amelia Earhart. Amelia was sponsored and financially backed by millionaire-publisher George Palmer Putnam. Putnam arranged for and financed many of her flights, exploiting her achievements through books written by "AE" (as he called her), lecture tours, product endorsements, and campaigns featuring Earhart in person.

He marketed everything from sports clothes to luggage, using Amelia Earhart's name. Amelia married Putnam eventually, and he continued to exploit her achievements throughout her life. Yet, there is little doubt that her accomplishments in aviation were significant. She held private, industrial, commercial, and transport pilot licenses.

She was the first person in the world to cross the Atlantic by air twice, first as a passenger and second as a solo pilot. She was active in aviation research and served as an advisor in aeronautics at Purdue University. She was the first person to fly nonstop from Newark, New Jersey, to Mexico City and to fly from Hawaii to California.

She made the first continental flight in an autogyro (aircraft with a horizontal rotor, which was a forerunner of the helicopter). In 1932, Amelia was awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the National Geographic Special Medal for her solo flight across the Atlantic. Additionally, she served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan and wrote at least three books about her aviation experiences.

One of Earhart's most lasting contributions to aviation was the first organization of women fliers. It was named the Ninety-Nines for the number of charter members and, of course, Amelia Earhart served as the first president. Today, it is still a very active international organization of licensed women pilots, which continues to work for the advancement of women in aviation.

The Ninety-Nines sponsor not only an Amelia Earhart Scholarship trust fund to prepare women for careers in aviation but also the All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race (better known as the Powder Puff Derby) and a number of other competitive and proficiency-building flying activities to encourage flying skills. They also are active in many air safety programs and charitable relief activities.18

Amelia Earhart's career ended when she disappeared in 1937 while attempting another first--a flight around the world at the equator. Her disappearance became and remains one of the greatest mysteries of aviation history. Yet, regardless of her fate in the South Pacific, her name and legend live on.

Another recipient of a National Geographic Medal for achievement in aviation was Anne Lindbergh. Her husband, Charles, is still widely remembered for his history-making aviation achievements; however, few people today are aware of Anne's contributions to some of the famous Lindbergh flights. A pilot and an accomplished navigator and radio operator, Anne flew as copilot and radio operator with her husband over the Orient in 1931 and around the inner rim of the four continents that border the Atlantic in 1933.

She was the first female recipient of the National Geographic Hubbard Medal in 1934. She was cited for greatly increasing public interest and support of an important industry and for encouraging millions of people to appreciate air travel as being safe, comfortable, and "enchanting."19

Today, Anne Lindbergh is best known as an author. Two of her earliest books, North to the Orient and Listen! The Wind, are about the flights for which she received the Hubbard Medal in 1934.

One other very well-known aviatrix of the era was Jacqueline Cochran, who apparently thrived on adversity and challenges. She was reared by foster parents in sawmill camps in the rural South and went to work in the cotton mills at age ten or eleven. Determined to better her lot in life, she obtained work in a beauty shop and owned her own shop while still in her teens. She became interested in flying as a possible tool for marketing cosmetics. She received her license in 1932 and became the owner and manager of a very successful cosmetic firm. However, flying became her new and real vocation.

Early in her flying career, she married financier Floyd Odlum. Like Earhart, she had extensive private financial backing from her husband for most of her aviation activities. By age thirty-five, she was acknowledged as the number-one female flier in the United States. In 1938, she won the Bendix race and, in the process, set a new west-east transcontinental record for women. In 1940, she set two speed records for men as well as women.20 Cochran played a vital role in World War II and continued to set records well into the 1960s. Before her life ended, she had accumulated an extremely impressive number of awards and honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross (three times), the Gold Medal of the Fédération Astronautique International, the International Harmon Trophy (fourteen times), the French Legion of Honor, and the Wings of the Spanish Air Force.21

World War II

Some of Cochran's most impressive achievements came while she was in the Women's Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. Indeed, Cochran was a driving force in getting this organization started. She made at least two unsuccessful attempts to get General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Army Air Forces, to establish a group of women pilots it, the Army Air Forces, with her as head of the group. Arnold later stated that he had doubts about "whether a slip of a young girl could fight the controls of a B-17."22

Failing in her efforts to persuade U.S. military leaders, she turned her attention to England. Cochran knew that the British were using women pilots in their Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), so in 1942 she recruited twenty-five seasoned American female pilots and took them to England to fly forthe ATA.

In the meanwhile, without any knowledge of Cochran's proposals to Arnold, Nancy Harkness Love activated, group of twenty-eight women pilots to ferry aircraft under the auspices of Air Transport Command. This group, originally based at New Castle Army Airfield in Wilmington, Delaware, was known as the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), and Love was appointed as its commander.

Cochran, always ambitious and determined to head any group of American women pilots, came back to the United States and again saw General Arnold. Apparently more convincing than she had been earlier, Cochran was appointed Director of the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) at AAF Headquarters in Houston, Texas. Sometime later, the WAFS and WFTD were merged to become the WASP, headquartered at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Love remained as executive officer, while Cochran became Director of Women Pilots.

As the WASP geared up for operations, over 25,000 applications were received. Of these, 1830 women were accepted and 1074 won wings. The primary mission of the WASP was to ferry aircraft from manufacturers or repair depots to operational bases in the CONUS. (It is a common misconception that the WASP flew aircraft to Europe: they were never permitted to do this.

On 17 June 1941, Cochran did fly a bomber to England. However, when male ferry pilots learned of this proposed flight, they threatened a strike. Thus, Cochran was permitted to make the flight only after she agreed to relinquish the controls of the aircraft to copilot Captain Grafton Carlise during takeoff and landing. In September 1943, Nancy Love and Betty Gillies were scheduled to ferry a B-17 to Prestwick, Scotland, but when they reached Goose Bay, the flight was canceled by direction of General Arnold. Arnold had ordered that no women fly transoceanic planes until he had time to study and approve the matter; he never approved such flights.)

The WASP also towed targets for Army units training new gunnery crews, did radio control flying, tested aircraft after repairs, gave instrument instruction to male pilots, and flew a variety of other missions. Thirty-eight (eleven training and twenty-seven operational) WASP died in service during the war.23

The WASP lived under military role and discipline but were not accorded military status and benefits until 1977, when Senator Barry Goldwater's bill "to provide recognition to the Women's Airforce Service Pilots for the service to their country during World War II" was finally approved. With the passage of this act, the WASP were assigned veteran status and issued honorable discharges.24

The WASP established an outstanding flying record. They flew everything in the Army Air Corps inventory, and their safety record was better than that of male pilots flying similar missions. They lost less time for reasons of physical disability than did their male colleagues.25 (Several sources suggest that their lower time loss can be attributed to less drinking by female pilots and to the propensity of males to travel with "a little black book.")26

As the war began to wind down, many flight instructor programs phased down also, and a number of male instructor pilots who had been training cadets in civilian schools were looking for new jobs. These male pilots wanted to take over the ferrying missions that WASP had been performing. Without "required government job" status, these male pilots became subject to the draft as well as unemployment. The displaced male pilots were championed by Congressman Robert Ramspeck, and a bitter battle ensued. Ramspeck won, and in late 1944 the WASP was disbanded.27

In addition to the WASP, other female military pilots flew during World War II. They too established excellent records. The British ATA had more than 100 "ata girls, " who accounted for about one-quarter of the total ATA pilot force. These women pilots flew every plane in the British inventory--120 different types of aircraft. Seventeen of them (fourteen pilots, one flight engineer, one nursing sister, and one cadet) forteited their lives while flying with the ATA.28

While the accomplishments of the women of WASP and ATA were significant, the achievements of Soviet female pilots in World War II were even more impressive. Over a million Soviet women served in the Armed Forces, and many saw combat, including women pilots. The performance of these female pilots was outstanding.

The Soviets had three all-female air regiments, and many other female pilots flew in other units. One female fighter regiment carried out 4419 combat missions and the women's 587th night bomber regiment flew 25,000 combat sorties. Flight Commander Irina Soodova flew 1008 operational sorties. Another woman commanded an otherwise all-male air regiment that flew bombing missions behind enemy lines.29

In 1943, the 588th regiment was awarded elite status which was denoted by a new unit designation--46th Guards Regiment. By the end of the war, every woman in this regiment had been decorated, and twenty-three of them were honored with the coveted title "Hero of the Soviet Union."30

Hanna Reitsch and other women served as test pilots in Germany, and a few other women flew as military pilots in other countries. Clearly by the time World War II was over, women had proved that they were first-class pilots in both civilian and military roles, capable of flying any aircraft in the world.

DESPITE their experiences during World War II, women were forced into the fringes of aviation after the war, not uncommonly having to move into wholly unrelated career fields. Why the giant leap backward?

For countless generations, society as a whole has held strong attitudes about what women can and should be allowed to do--even in the sometimes flamboyant eras of invention and change. Thus, as early as 1795, the Chief of Police of Paris expressed his view that women could not possibly stand up to the strain of riding in balloons. He felt, for their own sakes, women must be protected from the temptation to fly.31

Similarly, more than a century later, in 1911, the sheriff of Nassau County, New York, decided that he would curtail Mathilde Moisant's flying activities by arresting her for flying on Sunday. She avoided him by flying to another airfield. (Later, a court decided that flying on Sunday was no more immoral than driving a car on that day.)32

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) established experimental flight training programs for men only. Later, one female was allowed to participate forevery ten males. But in 1941, war seemed imminent and women were again eliminated from the training. These programs were viewed as training for fighting military pilots and as "no place for a woman."

A comment by Al Williams, a navy pilot who set two world speed records, illustrates well the attitude toward women in aviation that prevailed in the United States on the eve of World War II:

I admit I may be a bit old fashioned, but I don't believe we as a nation are ready to send women into combat. Woman is entitled to equal rights with man--even though she is something apart from and finer than man. The moral indices and real worth of any nation lies in the fitness of its women--as women.33

Charles Lindbergh also had ideas about "woman's place" in aviation:

There is no reason why women should not fly, but they should not be encouraged in entering aviation as an occupation. Their greatest contribution to life can be made in other and less material ways. How can a civilization be classified as "high" when its women are moved from home to industry, when the material efficiency of life is considered first and the bearing of children second, if not third.35

I've always assumed that we would never put women into combat. If for no other reason than because women are the bearers of children, they should not be in combat . . . A woman can do almost anything if she works hard enough. But there's something in me that says a battlefield is not the place for women.36

Few of today's women who would be fliers have the bankroll of a George Putnam or a Floyd Odlum to pay for their flight training and the purchase of high-performance aircraft. (Even very wealthy individuals could not afford to buy SR-71s, F-15s, and other sophisticated aircraft.) Modern state-of-the-art equipment is entirely in the hands of the military, other government agencies, or large civilian corporations--structures that still retain male-dominated decision-making processes.

By law, policy, and practice, these agencies have limited the utilization of women. In the 1980s and beyond, significant advances in aviation research will be achieved, new flight records will be attained, and many missions will be flown to ensure the defense of our nation and the freedom of peoples elsewhere. Until they are admitted in more than token numbers to the circles accomplishing these acts, women who fly will continue to be regarded as curiosities, and equality in the cockpit will remain little more than an abstract goal.

AFROTC Detachment 115
University of Connecticut, Storrs

Notes

1. Amelia Earhart, The Fun of It (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1932), p. 95.

2. Air Force Times, 21 March 1977, p. 2.

3. Paula Kane, Sex Objects in the Sky (Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1974), p. 106.

4. Charles E. Planck, Women with Wings (New York: Harper Brothers, 1941), pp. 2-4.

5. Ibid., pp. 6-7.

6. Valerie Moolman, Women Aloft (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1981), pp. 14-17.

7. Charles Paul May, Women in Aeronautics (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1962), pp. 64-66.

8. Planck, p. 16.

9. Henry Senano Vellard, Contact! (New York: Bonanza Books, 1968), pp. 24-2-7.

10. May, p. 80.

11. Edgar Meos, "Amazon Pilots and Lady-Warbirds," Cross and Cockade Journal, Winter 1975, pp. 375-79.

12. May, p. 81.

13. John W. Underwood, The Stinsons (Glendale, California: Heritage Press, 1976).

14. May, pp. 74-77.

15. Claudia M. Oakes, United States Women in Aviation through World War I (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978), pp. 20-23.

16. May, pp. 80-81.

17. Ann Hodgman and Rudy Djabbaroff, Sky Stars (New York: Atheneum, 1981), pp. 64-67.

18. Saundra Lapsley and Gene Nora Jessen, The Ninety-Nines, Inc. (Oklahoma City: The Ninety-Nines Inc., n.d.). Entire booklet.

19. "The Society Awards Hubbard Medal to Anne Morrow Lindbergh," National Geographic Magazine, June 1943, pp. 791-94.

20. Moolman, p. 133.

21. 30th Memorial Reunion WASP (Special Booklet) (Fort Worth, Texas: Heritage Publications, 1972).

22. Moolman, p. 135.

23. 30th Memorial Reunion WASP.

24. Hodgman and Djabbaroff, p. 148.

25. Oliver LaForge, The Eagle in the Egg (Boston, Massachusetts; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949), p. 140.

26. Moolman, p. 151.

27. Michael Beebe, "Years of No Recognition Still Prone to be Sting for WASP," Ledger-Star, 9 March 1977, p. B-1.

28. Moolman, pp. 139-40.

29. Jeanne Holm, Women in the Military (Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1982), pp. 315-16.

30. Moolman, p. 160.

31. Hodgman and Djabbaroff, p. 6.

32. Ibid., p. 28.

33. Planck, p. 155.

34. Kane, pp. 96-99.

35. Charles A. Linbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh (New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, 1946), p. 62.

36. Richard C. Barnard, "Where Are They Now: Jackie Cochran," Air Force Times Magazine, 23 January 1978, pp. 18-20.

Contributor

Lieutenant Colonel Nancy B. Samuelson, USAF (Ret), (B.A., Harris Teachers College; M.B.A., Syracuse University) recently retired as Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies, AFROTC Detachment 115, University of Connecticut. Earlier she served in various Supply positions in the United States, England and Thailand.

She is, popular speaker on women in the military and in management, has taught management and marketing courses, and is a previous contributor to the Review and other publications. Colonel Samuelson is a graduate of Squadron officer School, Air Command and Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College, and Air War College.

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.