Pilot. Stuntwoman. Sharpshooter. Trick Rider...
and 36" 24" 36" of the most dangerous woman in the
world.
Athena Voltaire is the daughter of French aircraft designer and
World War I ace Tristam Voltaire and Russian Countess Anya Sikorsky.
They were introduced by Anya's cousin, famous helicopter designer
Igor Sikorsky.
Their union produced Athena but during the upheavals in Europe
after the war, the couple separated. Anya, the expatriate countess
remained in Europe and became the toast of the café society
of Berlin and Paris. Tristam took his daughter to America and a
career designing aircraft for the government. Tristam, enamoured
of wild west stories told to him by American pilots during the war,
bought a ranch in Mesa, Arizona with a major airfield nearby. It
is here that Athena was raised. Ranch hands taught her how to ride
and shoot. Her father taught her to fly.
After a brief tragic marriage (her cowboy husband was killed in
a cattle raid), she struck out for Los Angeles to find work as a
mail pilot. Caught up in postwar Hollywood, her exotic looks got
her work in film. Her riding and shooting skills landed her parts
in a host of B-movie westerns and serials. However, her acting skills
were nominal and she ended up working primarily as a stuntwoman.
Bored and unable to break out of stuntwork, she went back to the
skies as a barnstormer and to compete in air races. She was more
successful at this than acting.
Her fame as an air racer brought her to the attention of Howard
Hughes, who lured her back to Hollywood to become a stunt pilot
for his films. She also landed on the arm of every major star in
Hollywood (Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, to name just a
few). During this time, she started her courier and charter air
service, Wings Over The World. She was not adverse to taking some
jobs and clients that were on the shady side of the law... at least
in the early days.
Her air service and Hollywood connections, along with her fame,
soon gained her a network of contacts all over the world. Her skill
at getting clients in and out of hot spots became legendary.
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