Famous Flyers and Their Famous Flights Read online

  CHAPTER IX--Four Women Flyers

  Mrs. Martin, too, was pleased. She had gained her point, and now hadanother surprise for the company. "Did it ever occur to you that thereare famous flyers who aren't men? It's just like you to neglect thewomen altogether."

  "Aw," said Bob, "we can't go telling stories about women. We're stickingto men."

  "It seems to me that the women oughtn't to be neglected," said hismother. "After all, when we women do things, we like to be recognized."

  The Captain broke in, then. "Well, how about some of the women? heasked. Of course, being a woman yourself, you can't enter ourstory-telling contest, but you can amuse us from a purely amateur loveof getting in your feminine licks."

  Mrs. Martin smiled in the dark. "You think that I won't," she said. "ButI will. I've been doing reading of my own, you know."

  "Tell away, Mater," said Bob. "You're better than any of us."

  Mrs. Martin began her story. "There are four women who stand head andshoulders above the rest in the United States," she said, "when it comesto flying. They are that oddly-assorted group--tall, slender, boyishAmelia Earhart, who's Amelia Earhart Putnam, now; little Elinor Smith,who doesn't weigh much over a hundred pounds: medium-sized, gracious andcharming Ruth Nichols, who belongs to the Junior League; and short,sturdy, daring Laura Ingalls.

  "Amelia is probably the first lady of the land, or I should say, firstlady of the air in the United States now, since her solo trans-Atlanticflight on May 20, 1932. It was fitting that she should make her flighton the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh's flight to Europe, because she'salways been called the Lady Lindy. She looks like him, you know--long,lean, blonde, with a shock of unruly curly hair, and a shy, contagioussmile. She has even his modest nature, and the ability to win the heartsof everybody with whom she comes in contact.

  "The solo flight wasn't Amelia Earhart's first trip across the ocean byplane. You remember her first flight, when she went as a passenger onthe Stultz-Gordon flight in 1928. She's the first person now who hasever crossed the ocean twice through the air. Amelia is a realpioneer--she must have adventure and excitement in life--that's why shegave up social service work, and made flying her profession. It wasn'teasy for her to learn to fly--she just had evenings and Sundays to get inher practice flights, but she stuck to it, and finally had a sufficientnumber of hours in the air to get her pilot's license. Of course, she isinterested in the progress of aviation. Everybody who flies has thisinterest at heart--but the love of adventure is uppermost in her mindwhen she makes her record flights.

  "It was that that sent her across the Atlantic, through storms and sleetand fog, with no thought of turning back, in spite of decided defects inher motor that threatened to land her in the middle of the ocean andsend her to certain death.

  "There wasn't much publicity before her flight. Since it was going to befor her own satisfaction, she wanted to keep it to herself. She took offquietly from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland. The weather was fairly good,but when she got out a few hours, she met with the same terrifyingflying conditions that her solo predecessor, Lindbergh, had. Fogenveloped her plane. She could not see in front of her, or to eitherside. Ice formed on the wings of her plane, and threatened to break themoff. Gradually the temperature rose, and the ice melted. But new dangersthreatened. A weld in the exhaust manifold broke, and the manifoldvibrated badly; leaks sprang in the reserve gas tanks in the cockpit,and then--the altimeter broke.

  "Now the altimeter, as I suppose you all know, records the altitude atwhich the plane is flying. Amelia Earhart had never flown without one,and now she realized the hazards of not knowing how high she was flyingthrough the fog. Sometimes she would drop so low that she came suddenlyout of the fog, but so close to the water she could see the white capson the surface.

  "The girl realized that she must make a landing as soon as possible, andthat was when she reached Culmore, Ireland, a tiny place five miles fromLondonderry. She landed in a field, scaring a team of plow horses, whohad never before seen a woman landing after a trans-Atlantic flight. Shewent by automobile to Londonderry, and there received the rousingwelcome that was due her.

  "Europe entertained her royally. She was awarded the DistinguishedFlying Cross; she was received by the Prince of Wales; she was partiedand banqueted. And through it all she kept her poise, and modestlyaccepted the acclaim that was showered upon her. She was the first womanto fly solo across the Atlantic, but not only that, she had set a newspeed record for the North Atlantic Ocean, flying a distance of 2,026miles in about thirteen and a half hours. She had at the same timebroken Ruth Nichols' long distance record for women, which had been setat 1,977 miles from Oakland, California, to Louisville, Kentucky.

  "Ruth Nichols has a habit of setting records. She started to fly atabout the same time that Amelia Earhart started, and has kept nip andtuck with her, except for the fact that proposed plans of hers to flythe Atlantic have not as yet been carried out. She was graduated fromWellesley College, and was a member of the Junior League, which ratesher pretty high in the social scale, but her overwhelming desire foradventure and pioneering, led her, as it led Amelia Earhart, to chooseaviation as her profession. Ruth Nichols held the long distance recordfor women until it was broken by Amelia Earhart. She holds the altituderecord for women, though, and broke the altitude record for Dieselengines in 1932, at a height of over 21,000 feet.

  "Elinor Smith was, in a way of speaking, born in an airplane cockpit.Her father was a pilot; Elinor made her first flight as a passenger atthe age of eight; took over the controls at twelve; and made her firstsolo flight at fifteen. She was so small that her head did not reachover the top of the cockpit, and the other pilots called her 'theheadless pilot.' It was a funny sight to see a plane land gracefully ona field apparently with no one to guide it. Then out would pop Elinor, agrimy little girl, covered with grease from the motor, and with acheerful grin on her impish face. It was Elinor, who at seventeen, setthe women's solo endurance record by staying in the air alone for 26hours and 21 minutes. Elinor should do great things in aviation. Sheknows her planes inside and out; she's had the opportunity such as noother woman has had, to learn the technicalities of aviation when shewas young that she absorbed them as part of herself. Elinor Smith is oneof the most popular women in aviation now.

  "Laura Ingalls is the stunt flyer of the women. She came out of themiddle-west, from Missouri. She took to music and dancing first toexpress her restless spirit, and then found that it was flying thatwould express her best. So she went to a government-approved school, andbecame an expert, daring flyer. She is the holder of the record forloop-the-loops for women, and of the barrel roll record for both men andwomen. She is interested in the progress of aviation, but gets a greatthrill out of merely flying for its own sake."

  Mrs. Martin paused. "I guess that gives you an idea," she said, "whatwomen are doing nowadays."

  "Women have always done the great things in aviation," said Mrs. Gregg."They stay home and wait while the men are risking their lives. Waitingis harder than doing.

  "Women haven't a monopoly on that," said Bob. "What about Mr. Putnam,who waited at home while his wife flew the ocean?"

  Everybody laughed. "You're right, Bob," said Mrs. Gregg. Then she added,"It's getting pretty late. How about our going, Hal?"

  The two of them cut across the garden to their home.