Zinda Blake

Ace pilot Zinda Blake was the best military aviator of her era, and an active member of the Defenders. In a time when women were barred from combat roles, she formed a consortium of largely female aviators called The Blackhawks. They purchased or 'obtained' commercial airplanes, equipped them for combat, and flew to Europe to sustain the mission overseas. This group of mercenaries developed a reputation for taking on the missions that the regular Army Air Corps balked at, flying in machines that were badly antiquated.

Zinda was eventually commissioned in the Army Air Corps as a brevet colonel, and fought jealously with the likes of Jimmy Doolittle for prestige and glory. Her aviatrixes set dozens of records for flight maneuvers and mission success rates, with the lowest casualty rate of any Air Corps unit. Zinda was an outspoken feminist, which made her a heroine for women serving domestically and abroad. Attempts to curtail her sometimes outrageous behaviour failed rather badly. She was championed as a role model by members of the WAC. Blake helped Nell Phelps convince General Eisenhower not to attempt to ban lesbians from military service. This has marked her as an early and outspoken advocate for the LGBT community in the armed forces.

Zinda Blake was declared missing: presumed dead after her plane was shot down in the Arctic while fighting the forces of HYDRA under Johann Schmidt. Badly wounded in the crash, her only passenger-- one Steve Rogers-- gave her a blood transfusion while awaiting rescue. The ice shelf they landed on collapsed, and Blake and Rogers fell into the ice and were never recovered.

Zinda Blake was retrieved from the wreckage that held Captain Rogers, and returned to New York in 2016.