Women Aviators (7 page)

The first women's air race was the National Women's Air Derby. And it almost didn't get off the ground. Scheduled for 1929, the derby was a struggle to set up because most people still believed that women had no business flying airplanes, much less racing them. The National Air Race Committee felt that the 2,700-mile (4,350 kilometers) distance was too far and the hazards—including flying over the Rocky Mountains—were too great. They suggested a starting location of Omaha, Nebraska, instead of California.

Headlines and editorials from newspapers shouted that the race should be stopped. Threats of sabotage were made, but
the women persevered. Amelia Earhart, already a nationally known figure, telegraphed the committee repeatedly about the conditions. When the committee tried to impose a rule that all the women must carry a male navigator or mechanic onboard, the women refused to fly. According to Louise Thaden, “To us the successful completion of the Derby was of more import than life or death.”

Finally, the details were worked out, and the decision was made: 20 women would race from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, on August 18, 1929. Pilots ranged from the famous—Amelia Earhart and Ruth Elder, who had made her living by flying in films—to the unknown, such as Neva Paris, Mary Haizlip, Opal Kunz, Mary von Mach, Vera Dawn Walker, Edith Foltz, and Jessie Keith-Miller.

The airplanes were lined up on Clover Field in Santa Monica by 1:30
PM
with the temperatures approaching the 90s. Humorist Will Rogers, an advocate of aviation, was the starter. He called the pilots “petticoat pilots and flying flappers” and nicknamed the race the Powder Puff Derby, a name that stuck. At 2
PM,
the pistol sounded, and they were off.

The eight-day race had a planned destination for each day: San Bernardino, Phoenix, El Paso, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Columbus, and more. The approximate distance was 310 miles (500 kilometers) during the daytime hours. Each contestant had a Rand McNally road map. Pilots also had emergency supplies in case of a crash: drinking water, milk tablets, and beef jerky.

Several contestants experienced problems, including Blanche Noyes and Pancho Barnes. Ruth Elder crashed. Thea Rasche, Claire Fahy, and a few others stated that someone had sabotaged their airplanes. Margaret Perry had to stop in the middle of the race to be hospitalized with typhoid fever. Marvel Crosson fatally crashed east of Yuma.

Fourteen contestants finished. The race was a success and was soon held each year. Women were eventually allowed to compete against men in races such as the Bendix. But for many of the women, the Women's Air Derby allowed them to meet others who shared the same love of flying. They formed friendships with people who really understood what it was like to be a female pilot.

Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden, and others began talking about formally organizing a women's pilot organization. On November 2, 1929, 26 women gathered in a hangar at Curtiss Field in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, to organize. A wheeled toolbox wagon held the tea that was served. The women decided the organization would be open to any licensed woman pilot and the function of the group would be “good fellowship, jobs, and a central office and files on women in aviation.” The
New York Times
mentioned the meeting with the comments, “The women are going to organize. We don't know what for.” Invitations went out to the 117 licensed women pilots of 1929. Of that number, 99 signed up. The group adopted the name “The Ninety-Nines” and voted Amelia Earhart as its first president.

The number of women pilots continued to grow after the formation of the Ninety-Nines. Two hundred women were licensed as pilots by 1930. In just five years, the number grew to almost 800.

The Ninety-Nines continues today as the largest women pilots' organization in the world. Its headquarters is in Oklahoma City, where the Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots showcases the history of women in aviation. The Ninety-Nines also operates the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas.

Additionally, the organization also develops, organizes, and participates in air races. The Women's Air Derby became the
All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race and was held annually for 30 years. The Air Race Classic, which continues to be held today, is similar to the Women's Air Derby but has a different course every year. There was also an All Women's International Air Race, also called the Angel Derby. Other races have included the Palms to Pines Air Race, New England Air Race, and Michigan Small Race.

A
S HER 40TH BIRTHDAY
approached, Amelia Earhart was ready for the ultimate challenge: flying around the world. Her first attempt in March 1937 ended on the second leg of her journey. Although she had made it from Oakland, California, to Hawaii, she crashed her Lockheed Electra upon takeoff from Honolulu's Luke Field. The crash meant almost a two-month delay for her airplane to be repaired. The delay also meant a change in weather patterns and air currents. Instead of an equatorial trip going from east to west, she was going to have to reverse her route and go west to east.

Amelia took off from Oakland, California, on May 20, 1937, with Fred Noonan as her navigator. Stops for refueling, rest, and publicity purposes would be part of the entire trip. Their last
stop in the continental United States was Miami; then they left for Puerto Rico on June 1. They followed the northeast coast of South America before crossing the Atlantic for Dakar, Senegal, in Africa.

On June 10, Amelia and her navigator crossed Africa, a trip that made her a little nervous. What if they crashed and were lost in the jungle? But they experienced no problems and departed Africa on June 15, headed for Pakistan. They followed the southern edge of Asia, landing in Australia on June 28. The next day, they reached Lae, New Guinea. They had flown 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) and had only 7,000 more miles (11,300 kilometers) to go, but that distance involved the longest overwater flights. In fact, their next stop was on Howland Island, 2,556 miles (4,113 kilometers) away.

Less than a mile wide and two miles long, the tiny How-land Island would be easy to miss if they were off course. The US government helped by building a runway and would have ships positioned off shore of the island. Maps in 1937 weren't as accurate as today's maps, and there was no satellite or GPS to follow. In fact, Noonan mainly navigated by looking at the stars and the sun.

On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan took off for Howland Island. The pair had unloaded everything from the plane that they didn't absolutely need so they could carry extra fuel.

When Amelia checked in with a Coast Guard ship, the
Itasca,
she reported cloudy weather. Radio transmissions were faint and filled with static. Amelia wasn't responding to their questions. The Itasca realized that Amelia couldn't hear them. Something was wrong with her radio.

“We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000
feet,” Amelia transmitted. About an hour later, she said, “We are on the line of position 156-137. We are running north and south.” That was the last anyone heard from Amelia Earhart.

Amelia had always had a sense of adventure. Born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, she climbed trees, raced her sled down hills, and orchestrated imaginative pretend trips for herself, her sister, and other children. From her well-off grandparents, whom she often stayed with as a child, she learned about the wonder of books and education. She was devastated when they died within months of each other in 1911.

Amelia's parents loved and encouraged her, but there were problems at home because of her father's alcoholism. Edwin Earhart, a railroad attorney, had difficulty holding onto a job because of his drinking. The Earharts moved to Des Moines, Iowa, when Amelia was in seventh grade and continued to move frequently as her father lost jobs. In all, Amelia attended six high schools, but she still managed to graduate on time.

When Amelia left to attend Columbia University, she didn't know exactly what she wanted to do, but she knew it should be important. She was drawn to stories of successful women and had a scrapbook about them that she kept during her childhood.

While visiting her sister in Toronto during World War I, Amelia worked as a nurse's aide at a military hospital. One day, she and a friend attended a stunt-flying exhibition. She had seen an airplane before, at the state fair when she was 10 years old, and hadn't been impressed. This time, however, she was. The pilot flew his plane toward Amelia to tease and frighten her a little. He expected her scream and run out of the way, but she faced the plane as if daring the pilot to hit her.

Amelia left school and moved to California in 1923 to live with her parents. She and her father often attended air shows, and on December 28, 1920, she experienced her first flight. In that moment, she knew she had to fly.

Two weeks later, she approached Neta Snook and started flying lessons. Amelia worked as a clerk for the telephone company and as a photographer to pay for those lessons. With her mother's financial help, Amelia bought a bright yellow Kinner Airster. She named it
Canary
and soon set a women's altitude record of 14,000 feet (4,270 meters).

On May 16, 1923, Amelia became the 16th woman in the world to earn a pilot's license from the FAI. But money was limited, especially after her parents' divorce. Amelia sold her airplane and drove her mother from California to Massachusetts, where they moved in with Amelia's sister, Muriel. Amelia worked with immigrant families as a social worker at Denison House in Boston. Her free time was spent at the airport trying to get flying time.

In spring of 1928, she received a call from George Putnam, a publisher and publicist, looking for a woman to be the first female to fly over the Atlantic Ocean. There was a catch, though. She wouldn't be piloting the airplane; she would fly as a passenger. Still, the flight provided an opportunity to make the trip and profit from it by writing about her experiences.

On June 17, 1928, Amelia took off from Newfoundland with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon. In 20 hours and 40 minutes, they landed in Wales. She wrote a book about the experience called
20 Hrs., 40 Min.
Although Amelia was just a passenger, all the attention was focused on her, which she found ridiculous. However, it allowed her to spend all her time focused on aviation—flying, writing, and speaking about it.

One of Amelia's first competitions was the Women's Air Derby, a race she helped organize. She placed third. She also
became the first woman to fly an autogiro, a flying machine that looks like a cross between a helicopter and an airplane. In 1931, a chewing-gum company called Beechnut paid her to tour the country in an autogiro. She set an altitude record of 18,415 feet (5,617 meters) in the machine but also experienced three crashes.

Amelia was a stylish figure in the brown breeches and brown leather jacket that she preferred. Years before, she began gradually cutting her hair until she was satisfied with the short style. The newspapers often called her “Lady Lindy” after the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. Amelia hated the name and much preferred to be called “AE.” Yet the most famous male and female aviators of the day did share a resemblance to each other with their slim builds and similar facial features.

The nickname spurred her to consider an idea she had carried around since the passenger flight that made her famous. What if she flew across the Atlantic—this time as a pilot? She would do it the same way Lindbergh had, solo and nonstop. Many men had tried and failed, some losing their lives in the process. One other woman, Ruth Nichols, had tried and failed in 1931.

On May 20, 1932, Amelia took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, in Canada in a red-and-gold Lockheed Vega 5B. It was exactly five years after Lindbergh had taken his historic flight. The 2,026-mile (3,260 kilometers) trip was challenging. She had to deal with a damaged exhaust manifold that occasionally caused flames to shoot out from the vent. Ice formed on her wings if she flew too high, and she risked crashing into the cold ocean water if she flew too low. About 15 hours later, she landed in a farmer's backyard in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She greeted the surprised farmer with, “Hello, I'm Amelia Earhart.”