Abilene Regional Airport next week will regain a piece of history and a helpful tool for aviators.

The local chapter of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed female pilots, will paint a compass rose onto a runway.

"The compass rose is a painting on the ground that shows true north so an aircraft can position itself on top of it and calibrate its instruments," said Don Green, director of aviation at the airport. The paintings are still used today, even with all modern technologies. Green said there used to be a compass on the runway, perhaps last painted in the 1980s, but airport renovations destroyed it. Local Ninety-Nines will join out-of-town members for the repainting on Oct. 8. The Ninety-Nines formed in 1929. Two years later Amelia Earhart was elected the group's first president, and the organization was named for its 99 charter members. The Abilene chapter was founded in the 1950s by Amber Cree, Patty Taliaferro, Ruby Caldwell Kinard, Margaret Childs, Maxine Elam and Ann Ell Hooks. The founding members of the Abilene chapter were featured in the March 1958 issue of AOPA Pilot, a magazine of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The Oklahoma City-based organization boasts thousands of members from 35 countries.