Walking on Air (20 page)

A stunned Phoebe struggled to go on. She later described her husband as “My Beloved Husband and Life's Greatest Inspiration.” Vernon, she wrote, was “one of the most thoughtful pilots in the world—a trait he managed to hammer home to me—therefore, we had no inkling that we wouldn't in due time cross the threshold of old age together.” Now she would have to carry on alone, and she was determined to be brave about it: “I have tried to be faithful to the code of smothering all personal grief.”
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She put Vernon's affairs in order as best she could. She was most concerned with stabilizing his business. The Faulkners offered assistance. Bill recommended his younger
brother John for the post of manager of Mid-South Airways, Inc. Bill's mother, Maud Falkner, provided financial support for the transition.
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Phoebe then took off for New York to fulfill her duty to represent the NAA's Contest Board at the start of the Bendix Trophy Race from New York's Floyd Bennett Field.
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The Bendix transcontinental dash was all about speed. There were no limitations on the design or power of the airplanes, and no limitations on the pilots' choice of route. The shortest time from point A to point B took the prize. The three women entries were all Phoebe's friends and close associates: Louise Thaden and her copilot Blanche Noyes flew a Beechcraft Staggerwing; Amelia Earhart took Helen Richey along in her new Lockheed Electra; and Laura Ingalls flew solo in her Lockheed Orion. Hampered by ground fog at the start and fighting thunderstorms and rain showers all the way across the continent, Thaden approached Los Angeles “believing I had lost all chance of landing in the money.” Yet, in a joyous upset, Louise and Blanche finished first, defeating some of the world's best male pilots. Laura Ingalls finished second; Earhart and Richey finished fifth.
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At the finish line, Vincent Bendix and National Air Races director Cliff Henderson, noted Thaden, “looked so crestfallen” at the outcome: a woman had won the Bendix! Thaden captured the $7,000 grand prize as well as the original “consolation prize” of $2,500 for the first female pilot to complete the race. The prize money was “far less gratifying than the pleasure of beating the men,” said Thaden, but pleasant nonetheless. The name of the consolation prize was changed to “Special Award” now that a female pilot had won. Helen Richey remarked that it took them fourteen hours and fifty-five minutes to make up their minds what to call the prize—the time it took for Louise and Blanche to fly from New York to Los Angeles.
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Phoebe returned to Washington after the races and resigned her position with the federal government in order to campaign for Franklin Roosevelt's reelection.
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In her resignation letter to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she explained that “aviation, both military and civil, has been lifted from its former chaotic condition and prospered much under the able guidance of President Roosevelt … Therefore, I consider it my duty, as a pioneer of aviation and as an American citizen to lend my support to help make it possible to continue this upward trend in the aviation industry.”
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NACA secretary J. F. Victory accepted her resignation “without prejudice” while praising her “wealth of experience and judgment and keen zeal for the promotion of safety in flying.”
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Many of Phoebe's cadre of women pilots were leaving the air-marking program as well. Louise Thaden had decided to spend more time with her
small children, Helen McCloskey got married, and Amelia Earhart hired Helen Richey to work for her in planning some future flights. That left Blanche Noyes to carry on with the program.
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As war heated up in Europe, the air-marking program stalled, and then suffered reversal as many of the completed markings were “obliterated to foil possible air invaders.” Noyes found herself in charge of painting over the markings.
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For the 1936 campaign, Phoebe flew a Fairchild four-passenger plane called
Victory.
She took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York on 16 September 1936 with Assistant Attorney General Stella Akin aboard.
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Huge letters along the side of the plane read “Roosevelt Fliers,” with “Win With Roosevelt” below that. The underside of the high wing was also painted with the name Roosevelt. Phoebe had wanted to equip the plane with neon lights that flashed “Roosevelt” when she flew at night, but this apparently did not work out.
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From New York, the fliers headed upstate, then west through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, flying back through the central states to New York, and ending their tour a few days before the election. Their “flying stump for the New Deal” covered 10,000 miles, twenty states, landed in 150 towns, and made one emergency landing in a farmyard in Pennsylvania. At each of their stops, including the farmyard where their unexpected arrival attracted a crowd, the women spoke for Roosevelt's reelection, citing the successes and unfinished business of the early New Deal. For towns where they did not land, Phoebe made it a point to fly low and slow overhead so that folks on the ground could clearly see their message to “Win With Roosevelt.”
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About halfway through their journey, Akin was replaced by Izetta Jewell Miller, a former actress from West Virginia and the first southern woman to run for the U.S. Senate (in 1922 and 1924, both unsuccessfully). The Roosevelt Fliers were the featured guests of endless luncheons, receptions, rallies, and banquets. Miller did most of the speaking, said Phoebe. “I just fly her around. Pretty good team, too, don't you think?”
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Miller returned the compliment: “Phoebe is a true bird-woman, a safe and sane pilot, and makes a dandy little talk on what the administration has done for aviation in the bargain.”
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Though she was reluctant to speak formally, when given the chance Phoebe spoke passionately about why she was campaigning again for the president:

In the first place, Mr. Roosevelt has done something for the forgotten men of aviation—the little fellow who have been sticking to flying all
these years, hoping to make something of it. A great deal has been done for aviation concerns before Roosevelt was elected, but the little guy was being forgotten. Well, since 1932 the New Deal program has included the construction of some 2,000 small airports throughout the country. This has given the little man a new lease on life.
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After the election, she returned to Memphis and reconnected with her old friend, W. Percy McDonald. McDonald had been an original member of the Memphis Aero Club and maintained his close association with the Omlies. Indeed, when Vernon was killed, it was McDonald who offered a grave from his family plot at Forest Hills Cemetery. McDonald and Phoebe began to talk again about how to accomplish Vernon's dream of aviation training in the public schools. Since first establishing Mid-South Airways, Vernon had advocated making aviation ground school a part of vocational education in Memphis. At one point in the 1920s, he even convinced his congressional representative, Senator Kenneth McKellar, to request that the War Department establish such a program similar to ROTC. In spite of apparent enthusiasm for the idea, funding was never forthcoming. By 1937, even with the Depression, the prospect looked more promising. McDonald was then both the superintendent of Shelby County Schools and chair of the Tennessee Aeronautics Commission. He and Phoebe hatched an idea to dedicate the seven-cents-per-gallon tax on aviation fuel to furthering the aviation industry in Tennessee. This would entail applying 50 percent of the tax revenues to airport improvements and the other 50 percent to funding aviation ground schools in public high schools. Together, McDonald and Phoebe drafted legislation that would become the Tennessee Aviation Act of 1937.
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In January, following his inauguration, President and Mrs. Roosevelt invited Phoebe to the White House for a private informal Sunday night supper. When he asked about her future plans, she said she would very much like to continue working on the issue of aviation safety. She told the president about her work in Tennessee on legislation to fund pilot training with a transfer of fuel tax. They discussed the federal Aviation Act then making its way through Congress, and Phoebe suggested that she was particularly interested in two items: that the air-marking program be established as a permanent part of the airport division (it then existed only at the discretion of the WPA) and that a pilot training program be included. The president agreed.
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What he did not do was offer her employment. Since December, she had been trying to secure a new position, calling on the intercession of Molly
Dewson, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and others, for an appointment to the Bureau of Air Commerce. In view of the coming reorganization of aviation agencies, she wrote, she would like to head up the aeronautics division with the title of assistant secretary of commerce. Dewson passed the suggestion on to J. M. Johnson at Commerce, who replied that he did not anticipate such a position being created, adding “Mrs. Omlie is a gifted woman and undoubtedly could be very useful. It would give me pleasure to give consideration to any plan to that end.”
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After Dewson shared this news along with her concern that the agency might not want a woman at the head, Phoebe responded:

Really, Molly, any job connected with the development of aviation is a “he-man” job. It takes someone who has had varied experience and one who is not afraid to let the “chips fall where they may.” … I am really interested in the Interstate Commerce Commission as I fully believe great study and work can be accomplished here, especially if Congress enacts legislation to turn airlines over to them. I have always, and now, more than ever will always devote my life's work to the development of safety in aviation. The Interstate Commerce Commission does not have one single member who has knowledge of aviation and its problems. Again, I quote you about “he-man.” I agree with them one hundred per cent. But does that really mean sex?
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Dewson responded that she was doing the best that she could to lobby on Phoebe's behalf, but she was not hopeful.
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Dewson turned to the first lady, reminding Mrs. Roosevelt that Phoebe “still thinks she would be better than the men in putting more safety into aviation if she were head of aviation for the Government.” Given that Phoebe had resigned from her paying job to campaign for the president, furnished her plane free of charge, and honored her pledge to campaign even after learning of her husband's death, Molly suggested that the first lady at least invite Mrs. Omlie for tea to discuss the matter.
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Then came the break Phoebe had been waiting for. On 18 April 1937, she hastily posted a telegram to Molly Dewson:

MAJOR SHROEDER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF AIR COMMERCE RESIGNED YESTERDAY STOP I AM NOT A HE MAN BUT I KNOW I HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE THAT ANY
OTHER IN THE BUREAU STOP I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS VACANCY STOP REGARDS PHOEBE

Dewson promised to show her telegram to the first lady while cautioning Phoebe not to be overly optimistic. She observed that “in spite of our progress, every time we get a woman located in a prominent place, it's an achievement.”
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On her periodic list of concerns and messages that Dewson forwarded to Mrs. Roosevelt to share with the president, Dewson included her friend as Item No. 4: “Phoebe Omlie: Greatly discouraged because a College Professor with no commercial experience whatever in aviation has been appointed on the Safety Program in her place.”
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Mrs. Roosevelt privately responded to Dewson that she had been told that “Phoebe Omlie had come in with an attitude of knowing it all and had never been persona grata with anyone. Mr. Vidal came to see me Monday and said he thought it was going to be impossible for her to do any work there. The feeling was strongly against her before this had come up. I made the suggestion … that they try to get her something with an aviation company … There is no use of her trying to work with Commerce people.”
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Phoebe was a self-confident woman in a time when women were supposed to be quiet and self-deprecating. She was sure of her commitment and her skill, and proceeded accordingly. Apparently, her approach did not endear her to some important colleagues.

In the midst of all this, Phoebe flew to Miami to see her good friend, Amelia Earhart, off on her flight around the world. As a member of the NAA National Contest Board tasked to check and approve flight plans for record flights, Phoebe was concerned about the difficulties of the passage over the vast distances of the Pacific, where vital wind and weather information was inconsistent or unavailable. Still, Amelia was confident that all contingencies had been accounted for. Phoebe later recounted that she “agonized and studied that plan over and over again after [Amelia's] disappearance to find an answer.” She feared that Amelia had encountered a tailwind that caused her to over-fly Howland Island (where she planned to refuel) during the night instead of at dawn. Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had planned to take advantage of the rising sun to make the tiny speck of an island (two miles long, half a mile wide, four feet elevation at high tide) easier to spot. After missing the island, Phoebe believed, Amelia had little fuel and no hope of reaching a safe landing.
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The Tennessee Aviation Act, proposed by Omlie and McDonald, passed 21 May 1937. The legislation replaced the Aeronautics Commission with a more centralized and powerful Tennessee Bureau of Aeronautics within the Department of Highways and Public Works.
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McDonald was named director of aeronautics by the governor. By the time the Education section of the bill became operational the following March, Tennessee's Civilian Pilot Training Program (TCPTP) had established ground schools in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and the Tri-Cities, each of them designed to accommodate one hundred students per session. Open to any Tennessee citizen over the age of sixteen, the schools taught navigation, meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft engines, and civil air regulations. Because there were no textbooks available for these subjects, Phoebe took on the task of developing the curriculum. She taught her own section of the ground school at Bellevue Junior High School in Memphis in October 1938.
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Based on a merit system, the top fifteen students in each school (twelve boys and three girls) were granted scholarships for private pilot training.
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By the end of the first year, the state had graduated 2,780 ground school students and 75 fliers.
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