Wally Funk is 82 years old American aviator who will join Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos in the inaugural crewed flight of the New Shepard suborbital spacecraft, Wally Funk will fly as an honored guest. On June 1st, Jeff took to Instagram and shared a video where Wally can be seen excited, then Jeff wrote “No one has waited longer. In 1961, Wally Funk was at the top of her class as part of the “Mercury 13” Woman in Space Program. Despite completing their training, the program was canceled, and none of the thirteen flew. It’s time. Welcome to the crew, Wally. We’re excited to have you fly with us on July 20th as our honored guest.”
What is Wally Funk Net Worth?
Wally Funk Net Worth | $200k to $500k USD |
Wally Funk from a very young age was fascinated by the planes and began building model aircraft and ships, once her parents took her to the New Mexico airport there Wally was impressed by the Douglas DC-3 and till now DC-3 fly in active military service and active commercial. Besides this, Wally was also into skiing, hunting, and fishing, while studying in high school she was interested in mechanical drawing and auto mechanics but she was only permitted to take home economics just because she was a girl, this made her drop out of high school at the age of 16 and then enrolled in the Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. In 1958, Wally graduated with her pilot’s license and an Associate of Arts degree and was also a member of Flying Susies. Later, she graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, during her time at the Oklahoma State University she was in the Flying Aggies program and learned a large number of aviation instrumentation and instruction ratings. Furthermore, she earned the Outstanding Female Pilot trophy and was also named the Flying Aggie Top Pilot. Wally became a professional aviator by the age of 20 and landed her first job at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as a Civilian Flight Instructor of noncommissioned and commissioned officers of the United States Army, this made her the first female flight instructor at a US military base.
In 1961, Wally joined the Aviation company in California as a Certified Flight Instructor, Charter, and Chief Pilot, then she earned her Airline Transport Rating in 1968 by this she became the 58th woman to do so. In 1971, Wally became the first woman to complete the FAA’s General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course and earned the rating of flight inspector, later she bagged another achievement by working four years with the FAA as a field examiner and became the first-ever woman to do so, then she was promoted to FAA SWAP as a specialist. Then, she was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board in 1974 as its first female Air Safety Investigator, during her tenure she investigated 450 accidents. In 1985, Wally Funk retired after serving 11 years as an Air Safety Investigator and was appointed as an FAA Safety Counselor. In 1986, she served as the key speaker for the US at The World Aviation Education and Safety Congress and appointed as the Chief Pilot at Emery Aviation College in 1987. In 1961, William Randolph Lovelace ran the program called “Women in Space” and had the support of NASA, Wally volunteered for the program, around 35 women were invited to take part and one among them was Wally Funk, during that time she was 21 years old but the program was canceled before the women were to undergo their last test. Besides this, Wally participated in several air races such as Powder Puff Derby’s 25th Annual Race, Pacific Air Race, Palms to Pines Air Race, Palms to Pines All Women Air Race, and many more. Her first space flight came in 2012, Wally became one of the people to fly into space via Virgin Galactic.
The estimated Net Worth of Wally Funk is between $200k to $500k USD, she also earns money through her book and film royalties.
(Image Source: BBC, Texas Monthly)
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