Georgia Jipp

Georgia Jipp might be small, but she was brave, flying 150 mercy missions for the American Red Cross during the winter of 1949.

Georgia Hoyt Jipp (1926–1987) spent her childhood in and around small airplanes in western South Dakota. She loved flying. Despite her petite size, she earned her pilot's license at age nineteen.

In 1948, at age twenty-two, she married Richard Jipp. Their wedding took place in an airplane circling above Philip, South Dakota, while wedding guests listened in on the radio.

A blizzard struck on January 2, 1949, ushering in three months of snowstorms that ranked as the worst in the state's history. Georgia answered the desperate pleas of ranchers, parents of sick children, and the American Red Cross, flying over 150 rescue missions during those three long months of snowstorms—more than anyone else in the state! She was a blizzard pilot hero.

“Educational story about a true heroine in South Dakota history — petite pilot Georgia Hoyt Jipp, who at age 22 risked her life to aid suffering people in a devastating blizzard in 1949. Georgia knew from a young age that she wanted to be an aviator, a daring ambition at a time when few pilots were women. The winter of 1949 brought severe snowstorms to much of the West, and President Harry S. Truman ordered “Operation Snowbound,” when the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, American Red Cross, and Civil Air Patrol combined forces to clear snow and drop tons of provisions. Georgia flew more than 150 mercy missions. As the book frequently states, “She was little, but she was brave.” Wonderful illustrations by award-winning illustrator Jeanne Bowman (Spur Award winner for Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bull Head Lodge ) and a helpful timeline of important dates in the back. — Rocky Gibbons (Roundup Magazine, Feb. 2025 issue)

“This is the kind of delightful children's book I love to read to my students. The story of a brave young pilot is both fun and inspirational and the illustrations just bring it to life. Living in the midwest I appreciate this true blizzard adventure of an unsung hero pilot. If your children or grandkids love adventure or aviation they will love this book!” — Amazon reviewer

“ Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot combines colorful anecdotes uncovered by writer Laura Beth Dean and vivid illustrations from Jeanne Bowman to transport young readers to 1949, when an exceptionally harsh winter left hundreds of West River ranch families stranded.” — South Dakota Magazine (Jan./Feb. 2026 issue)

Laura Beth Dean was born into a dairy farming family in Cooperstown, New York, and grew up relishing blizzard and sheep ranching stories told by her South Dakota relatives. When she was two months old, her parents took her on her first flight to Brazil. As a little girl, Laura loved flying in all sizes of airplanes, ranging from a Helio Courier propeller plane, to a Boeing 747 “Jumbo Jet.” After an adventuresome childhood in five countries on four continents, she earned a B.S. in Nursing before settling down with her husband and three children in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. Surrounded by farms and ranches, Laura appreciates quiet and blizzard-free adventures as a home health nurse. She is the author of the children's book, Sweet Potato Moon .

Jeanne Bowman was born (more or less) with a crayon in her hand and never stopped putting marks on paper (or the walls, to her mother’s chagrin). She grew up loving the mountains and forests but has spent the majority of her life on the plains of Montana and the desert of New Mexico. She has illustrated The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bullhead Lodge by Emily Crawford Wilson, Bob Marshall: Defender of the Wilderness by Linda Elovitz Marshall, and Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot by Laura Beth Dean. Jeanne received the 2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Illustrator of the Year for her work on Charlie Russell and the Gnomes and the 2025 Moonbeam Award for Best Illustrations for Georgia Jipp , which also won a Spur Award for best Children’s Picture Book. She currently resides in Sidney, MT.