Walking on Air (30 page)

10
. Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 113.

11
.
Memphis News-Scimitar
, 11 April 1910; Emily Yellin,
A History of the Mid-South Fair
(Memphis: Guild Bindery Press, 1995), 132–135;
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, 28 October 1980. (Note the
Memphis Press
merged with the
News-Scimitar
to become the
Press-Scimitar
in 1926.)

12
.
Commercial Appeal
, 8 April 1910; Jim Fulbright,
Aviation in Tennessee
(Goodlettsville, TN: Mid-South Publications, 1998), 11.

13
. The
New York Times
devoted six pages to this remarkable feat. Curtiss made the journey of 150 miles in 2 hours 46 minutes at an average speed of 54.18 mph.
New York Times
, 30 May 1910.

14
. Despite the title, the Moisant brothers were Americans, sons of French-speaking immigrants from Canada. Their sister, Matilde E. Moisant, would later become the second woman pilot certified by the Aero Club of America. (Her friend, Harriet Quimby, was the first.) But this was in 1911, after the Moisant circus flew in Memphis. Doris L. Rich,
The Magnificent Moisants: Champions of Early Flight
(Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998), 135–137.

15
. Chattanooga planned to host a Moisant three-day aviation meet featuring speed, altitude, and distance contests with daily plane versus automobile races between the 35 hp Demoiselle and a 110 hp Fiat racer.
Knoxville Daily Journal and Tribune
, 28 November 1910. Finding Chattanooga's Olympia Park too small, the stands dilapidated and the strong winds off the mountains too dangerous, the company left after one disappointing day. Rich,
Magnificent Moisants
, 80–81.

16
. In 1913, Garros flew an astonishing 450 miles across the Mediterranean. He went on to become one of the first French “aces” during the war, downing three German
planes in aerial combat before he was shot down and killed in October 1918. Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 208–210; Ron Dick and Dan Patterson,
Aviation Century: The Early Years
(Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 2003), 54–55.

17
. Rich,
Magnificent Moisants
, 68–76;
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, 28 October 1980.

18
. Poster in Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 206; Rich,
Magnificent Moisants
, 82.

19
.
Commercial Appeal
, 2 December 1910.

20
. Ibid., 8 December 1910.

21
. Ibid., 2 December 1910.

22
. Exhibition companies typically charged sponsoring organizations $5,000 for each aircraft used. Memphis got a bargain at this rate. Flying exhibitions were a profitable business during these early years; the Curtiss Company reportedly grossed nearly a million dollars in 1911. Pisano,
The Airplane in American Culture
, 48;
Commercial Appeal
, 8 December 1910.

23
. John Moisant crashed and died on December 31 while preparing for a competition in New Orleans. His first flight to his final crash was only five months. The international airport in New Orleans was originally named Moisant Field in his honor; it has since been renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Rich,
Magnificent Moisants
, 85, 94.

24
. Racetracks served as the first hosts for air meets. For example, Moisant's Statue of Liberty Race flew out of the famous Belmont Park near Queens.

25
. Senate Bill No. 72, “An Act to Prohibit Gambling on Races,” 1905. Carroll Van West, ed.,
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
(Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998), 437.

26
. Although no longer part of the Grand Circuit, the Driving Park was used for training and racing trotters until the property was sold off in 1928. Charles Bobbitt, “The North Memphis Driving Park, 1901–1905: The Passing of an Era,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
(1972): 40–55.

27
. Paul R. Coppock, 23 January 1977, in Helen R. Coppock and Charles W. Crawford, eds.,
Paul R. Coppock's Mid South
, Vol. 3, 1976–1978 (Memphis: The Paul R. Coppock Publication Trust, 1993), 143.

28
. Fulbright,
Aviation in Tennessee
, 21.

29
. The capacity of the Driving Park was estimated at “20 machines and 50 cadets, with the necessary instructors.”
Commercial Appeal
, 7 January 1918; Norris, “Park Field,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
, 68.

30
. The Memphis Aerial Company mentioned by Paul R. Coppock, 10 June 1973, in Coppock and Crawford,
Coppock's Mid South
, Vol. 2, 1971–1975, 159.

31
. Memphis Business Men's Club was an ancestor of the Chamber of Commerce. Paul R. Coppock, “The Flying Machines,” in Paul R. Coppock,
Memphis Sketches
(Friends of Memphis and Shelby County Libraries, 1976), 123. The Omlies also did exhibitions away from Memphis, mostly in southern Missouri. One example, in Dresden, Missouri, on 16 March 1923, clipping in Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

32
. Norris, “Park Field,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
, 75.

33
. W. Percy McDonald, “Growth of Aviation in Tennessee with Emphasis on Memphis and Shelby County,” Memphis and Shelby County Airport Authority.

34
. About the Author, Omlie Collection.

35
.
Commercial Appeal
, 27 June 1926.

36
.
Commercial Appeal
, 12 November 1926; Poster for “Armistice Day Aerial Derby,” 11 November 1926, Omlie Collection. This was to be Phoebe's three hundredth parachute jump and the last one, she promised her mother. However, she did jump one more time, on 4 July 1927, after the boy who was to make that jump broke his hand.
Commercial Appeal
, 27 August 1929.

37
. The plane was named for Byrd's backer, Edsel Ford's daughter.
Commercial Appeal
, 17 November 1926.

38
. Daniel Guggenheim, head of a wealthy family that made its money in the mining industry, created the $2.5 million Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics in 1926 to speed the development of civil aviation in the United States. The fund supported expeditions by Byrd and Lindbergh, established schools of aeronautics and research centers at numerous universities around the country, and supported the development of commercial aircraft and aircraft equipment. Claire Gaudiani,
The Greater Good
(New York: Times Books, 2003), 112–115.

39
. Commander Byrd did not make the tour.
Commercial Appeal
, 17 November 1926.

40
. After the tour, the
Josephine Ford
went on display in the window at Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia. Corn,
Winged Gospel
, 15.

41
. In October 1927, for example, the Omlies were engaged in mapping routes for proposed power lines in the northern portion of west Tennessee.
Commercial Appeal
, 1 November 1927; Max Stern, “Aviation's Nursemaid,”
Today
, 23 February 1935, 19.

42
. Career chronology, Personnel File, Omlie Collection.

43
. Scharlau,
Phoebe
, 54.

44
. WACOs (from the acronym of the Weaver Aircraft Company) were easy-to-fly small airplanes prized for their rugged design and safety record.
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, 12 June 1929.

45
. Official Report of the Relief Operations,
The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster of
1927 (Washington, D.C.: American National Red Cross, 1928), 3–5. See also Bette B. Tilly, “Memphis and the Mississippi Valley Flood of 1927,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
24 (1970): 41–47; John M. Barry,
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 173–182.

46
. Relief Headquarters remained in Memphis from April 25 until May 26, when it was transferred to New Orleans. Red Cross Official Report, 24–25.

47
.
Commercial Appeal
, 20 April 1927 and 24 April 1927.

48
. Stern, “Aviation's Nursemaid,” 19; Earhart,
The Fun of It
, 177.

49
. Both local newspapers carried dozens of photographs for months during the flood, most of them unattributed. The
Press-Scimitar
on occasion credited staff photographer William Day, noting that the photos were taken from a Waco plane piloted by V. C. Omlie; see, for example,
Memphis Press-Scimitar
, 16 April 1927 and 20 April 1927. See also “About the Author,” Omlie Collection; reference to Phoebe's photography of the flood in
Commercial Appeal
, 27 August 1929.

50
. Phoebe's remark to Edwin Williams, “The Thrilling Experiences of a Pioneer Woman
Flyer,”
Southern Aviation
, July 1932, 15. The Red Cross's official report on the disaster was dedicated to Officer Kilpatrick.

51
. Unattributed newspaper clipping, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

52
. William Alexander Percy wrote about the flood around his home in Greenville, noting that the waters did not recede for four months. W. A. Percy,
Lanterns on the Levee
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941), 248.

53
. Red Cross Official Report, 3–5; Barry,
Rising Tide
, 285–286.

54
. Stern, “Aviation's Nursemaid,” 19.

55
. The Aero Club of America and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), a sanctioning body for aviation records and attempts, began issuing licenses to pilots participating in sporting events and demonstrations sanctioned by the ACA and FAI in 1911. The ACA was succeeded by the National Aeronautic Association in 1922. Komons,
Bonfires to Beacons
, 7–26.

56
. Press release, 26 February 1927, Donald E. Keyhoe, Editor, Air Information Division, Aeronautics Branch Department of Commerce;
St. Paul Pioneer Press
, 28 February 1927. See also letter, Phoebe Omlie to Joe Field of Bradford, Pennsylvania, 14 October 1971, reminiscing about how Parker “Shorty” Cramer put her “through-the-grill” for her licenses in 1927. She notes that during the flood they were flying from dusk to dawn, but he was very cooperative in giving her and Vernon their written exams at night, Omlie Collection.

57
. From press release, 28 October 1929, Ninety-Nines scrapbook Vol. I, Ninety-Nines Museum, Oklahoma City.

58
. Ruth Nichols received the second, #326, on 22 July. Ruth Nichols also received the second mechanic's license; even though hers was #401, it was issued after Phoebe's. They were both issued their licenses on the same day. Because Phoebe had obtained a Letter of Authority authorizing her to operate as a mechanic pending official examination, dated nearly three weeks earlier, hers was officially the first woman's mechanic's license. Copy of letter to Ruth Nichols from Bruce Jones, Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce, in response to her inquiry as to which woman had the first mechanic's license issued; letter in Phoebe Omlie file, Ninety-Nines Museum.

59
. The race was variously referred to as the National Air Tour, the Air Olympics, the Caravan of the Sky, the Ford Reliability Air Tour, and other titles. The official title was The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy. The most comprehensive source on the tours is Lesley Forden,
The Ford Air Tours, 1925–1931
(New Brighton, MN: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003).

60
. Des Moines, for example, built a new field after being passed over by the 1925 air tour, and Tulsa chose the arrival of the tour in 1928 to dedicate its new airport. Forden,
Ford Air Tours
, 24, 27;
Tulsa Tribune
, 4 July 1928.

61
. Competition for the Edsel Ford trophy, a three-foot-tall structure of gold and silver that was said to have cost $7,000, depended upon the pilot's ability to keep to a planned 80 miles-an-hour schedule. The air tours later adopted a more complicated scoring system based upon landing and takeoff times (“stick and unstick”) and the greatest payload per horsepower in the shortest time. Forden,
Ford Air Tours
, 2–5, 157–158; Official rules booklet, Commercial Airplane Reliability Tour Collection, Benson Ford Research Center, Dearborn, Michigan.

62
. Forden,
Ford Air Tours
, 25–47.

63
. Ibid., 42–61;
Commercial Appeal
, 8 July 1927.

64
. The official report indicated that the plane went into a power spin at 800 feet, insufficient altitude to recover. Cause was blamed on “material and personnel.” Senate Doc. 319, Department of Commerce, 17 February 1931, 18.

65
. Phoebe detailed her injuries in a letter to Louise Thaden, 6 December 1973, Omlie Collection. She later told the
Washington Times Herald
that the accident had “completely scalped her.” 24 February 1948. See also Earhart,
The Fun of It
, 175–176.

66
. Annotated outline for
The Omlie Story
.

67
. Lindbergh's tour was sponsored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, who paid Lindbergh $50,000 for the trip plus $18,721 in expenses. In order to demonstrate that planes could perform on schedule, Lindbergh arranged to arrive at each stop at precisely 2
PM
. The tour covered 22,350 miles, visited each of the 48 states, with 82 stops and 68 overnight stops. Lindbergh rode in 1,285 miles of parades, attended 69 official dinners, delivered 147 speeches, and dropped 192 messages of regret to cities in which he did not stop. Robert Wohl estimates that 30 million people turned out to see Lindbergh on the tour, one out of every four Americans. The entire tour is described, accompanied by great photographs by Lt. Donald E. Keyhoe, “Seeing America with Lindbergh,”
National Geographic
, January 1928, 1–46. Wohl,
The Spectacle of Flight
, 37–41.