Famous Flyers and Their Famous Flights

CHAPTER IX – Four Women Flyers

Mrs. Martin, too, was pleased. She hadgained her point, and now had another surprisefor the company. “Did it ever occurto you that there are famous flyers who aren’tmen? It’s just like you to neglect the womenaltogether.”

“Aw,” said Bob, “we can’t go tellingstories about women. We’re sticking tomen.”

“It seems to me that the women oughtn’tto be neglected,” said his mother. “Afterall, when we women do things, we like tobe recognized.”

The Captain broke in, then. “Well, howabout some of the women? he asked. Ofcourse, being a woman yourself, you can’tenter our story-telling contest, but you canamuse us from a purely amateur love ofgetting in your feminine licks.”

Mrs. Martin smiled in the dark. “Youthink that I won’t,” she said. “But I will.I’ve been doing reading of my own, youknow.”

“Tell away, Mater,” said Bob. “You’rebetter than any of us.”

Mrs. Martin began her story. “There arefour women who stand head and shouldersabove the rest in the United States,” shesaid, “when it comes to flying. They arethat oddly-assorted group – tall, slender, boyish Amelia Earhart, who’s Amelia EarhartPutnam, now; little Elinor Smith, whodoesn’t weigh much over a hundred pounds: medium-sized, gracious and charming RuthNichols, who belongs to the Junior League; and short, sturdy, daring Laura Ingalls.

“Amelia is probably the first lady of theland, or I should say, first lady of the airin the United States now, since her solotrans-Atlantic flight on May 20, 1932. Itwas fitting that she should make her flighton the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh’s flightto Europe, because she’s always been calledthe Lady Lindy. She looks like him, youknow – long, lean, blonde, with a shock ofunruly curly hair, and a shy, contagioussmile. She has even his modest nature, andthe ability to win the hearts of everybodywith whom she comes in contact.

“The solo flight wasn’t Amelia Earhart’sfirst trip across the ocean by plane. Youremember her first flight, when she went asa passenger on the Stultz-Gordon flight in1928. She’s the first person now who hasever crossed the ocean twice through theair. Amelia is a real pioneer – she musthave adventure and excitement in life – that’swhy she gave up social service work, and made flying her profession. It wasn’teasy for her to learn to fly – she just hadevenings and Sundays to get in her practiceflights, but she stuck to it, and finally hada sufficient number of hours in the air toget her pilot’s license. Of course, she is interestedin the progress of aviation. Everybodywho flies has this interest at heart – butthe love of adventure is uppermost inher mind when she makes her record flights.

“It was that that sent her across theAtlantic, through storms and sleet and fog, with no thought of turning back, in spiteof decided defects in her motor that threatenedto land her in the middle of the oceanand send her to certain death.

“There wasn’t much publicity before herflight. Since it was going to be for her ownsatisfaction, she wanted to keep it to herself.She took off quietly from Harbor Grace,Newfoundland. The weather was fairlygood, but when she got out a few hours, she met with the same terrifying flying conditionsthat her solo predecessor, Lindbergh, had. Fog enveloped her plane. She couldnot see in front of her, or to either side.Ice formed on the wings of her plane, andthreatened to break them off. Gradually thetemperature rose, and the ice melted. Butnew dangers threatened. A weld in the exhaustmanifold broke, and the manifold vibratedbadly; leaks sprang in the reserve gastanks in the cockpit, and then – the altimeterbroke.

“Now the altimeter, as I suppose you allknow, records the altitude at which the planeis flying. Amelia Earhart had never flownwithout one, and now she realized the hazardsof not knowing how high she was flyingthrough the fog. Sometimes she woulddrop so low that she came suddenly out ofthe fog, but so close to the water she couldsee the white caps on the surface.

“The girl realized that she must make alanding as soon as possible, and that waswhen she reached Culmore, Ireland, a tinyplace five miles from Londonderry. Shelanded in a field, scaring a team of plowhorses, who had never before seen a womanlanding after a trans-Atlantic flight. Shewent by automobile to Londonderry, andthere received the rousing welcome that wasdue her.

“Europe entertained her royally. She wasawarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; shewas received by the Prince of Wales; shewas partied and banqueted. And throughit all she kept her poise, and modestly acceptedthe acclaim that was showered uponher. She was the first woman to fly soloacross the Atlantic, but not only that, shehad set a new speed record for the NorthAtlantic Ocean, flying a distance of 2,026miles in about thirteen and a half hours.She had at the same time broken Ruth Nichols’long distance record for women, whichhad been set at 1,977 miles from Oakland,California, to Louisville, Kentucky.

“Ruth Nichols has a habit of setting records.She started to fly at about the sametime that Amelia Earhart started, and haskept nip and tuck with her, except for thefact that proposed plans of hers to fly theAtlantic have not as yet been carried out.She was graduated from Wellesley College, and was a member of the Junior League, which rates her pretty high in the socialscale, but her overwhelming desire for adventureand pioneering, led her, as it ledAmelia Earhart, to choose aviation as herprofession. Ruth Nichols held the long distancerecord for women until it was brokenby Amelia Earhart. She holds the altituderecord for women, though, and broke thealtitude record for Diesel engines in 1932, ata height of over 21,000 feet.

“Elinor Smith was, in a way of speaking, born in an airplane cockpit. Her fatherwas a pilot; Elinor made her first flightas a passenger at the age of eight; took overthe controls at twelve; and made her firstsolo flight at fifteen. She was so small thather head did not reach over the top of thecockpit, and the other pilots called her ‘theheadless pilot.’ It was a funny sight to seea plane land gracefully on a field apparentlywith no one to guide it. Then out wouldpop Elinor, a grimy little girl, covered withgrease from the motor, and with a cheerfulgrin on her impish face. It was Elinor, who at seventeen, set the women’s solo endurancerecord by staying in the air alonefor 26 hours and 21 minutes. Elinor shoulddo great things in aviation. She knows herplanes inside and out; she’s had the opportunitysuch as no other woman has had, tolearn the technicalities of aviation when shewas young that she absorbed them as partof herself. Elinor Smith is one of the mostpopular women in aviation now.

“Laura Ingalls is the stunt flyer of thewomen. She came out of the middle-west, from Missouri. She took to music and dancingfirst to express her restless spirit, andthen found that it was flying that wouldexpress her best. So she went to a government-approvedschool, and became an expert, daring flyer. She is the holder of the recordfor loop-the-loops for women, and of thebarrel roll record for both men and women.She is interested in the progress of aviation, but gets a great thrill out of merely flyingfor its own sake.”

Mrs. Martin paused. “I guess that givesyou an idea,” she said, “what women aredoing nowadays.”

“Women have always done the greatthings in aviation,” said Mrs. Gregg. “Theystay home and wait while the men are riskingtheir lives. Waiting is harder than doing.

“Women haven’t a monopoly on that,”said Bob. “What about Mr. Putnam, whowaited at home while his wife flew theocean?”

Everybody laughed. “You’re right, Bob,”said Mrs. Gregg. Then she added, “It’s gettingpretty late. How about our going,Hal?”

The two of them cut across the gardento their home.

CHAPTER X – Hawks and Doolittle

The next day was spent in a pleasantlymuddled state, getting Hal ready to go withthem, and putting the finishing touches totheir own equipment. Stout boots, fishinglines, flies, everything on their lists was graduallybeing checked off. Late in the afternoonthey had a breathing space, and Bobremembered that it was Pat’s turn to tellhis story.

“Come on, Pat, you might as well get itover with,” said Bob. “We haven’t anythingelse to do, anyway.”

“You’re mighty impudent for a youngone, Bob, my lad,” said Pat. “Justbecause you’ve made a solo flight doesn’t meanthat you’re wings are dry yet. You mightknow that any story I’d tell would be good.”

“Oh, Patrick, you’ll have to prove that,”said the Captain. “I’ve heard some prettyawful ones from you. Haven’t I?”

“It must have been two other fellows,”said Pat. “But I’ll begin. And I won’ttake so long, either. I’m not one of theselong winded story tellers,” he said significantly.

“Get on, get on.” This from CaptainBill.

“My two boys are the speedy two, allright,” began Pat. “Speed was their middlename. Their real names were – well, youprobably have guessed. It’s not a secret – FrankHawks and Jimmie Doolittle. Begpardon, maybe I had better say LieutenantCommander Frank Hawks of the UnitedStates Naval Reserve, the holder of some 30inter-city aviation records, etcetera, etcetera; and maybe it would be more proper to talkabout James Doolittle, M.S.; D.A.E.. Butwhat’s the use of the titles? They’re justFrank and Jimmie, two of the squarestshooters in the game.

“Frank was born, of all places for a flyerto be born, in Marshalltown, Iowa, onMarch 28, 1897. Iowa’s flat, you know.Wouldn’t think that there’d be much inspirationfor flying out there. But maybeall that flat prairie was just so much inspirationto get away from it all, and getup into the air. Anyway, young Frankput plenty of grey hairs in his mother’s headwith his love for climbing. Just crazy abouthigh places. Always up a tree, so to speak.

“Little Frank was mighty pretty, I guess.Maybe he wouldn’t like my saying it, but hemust have been a smart kid, too. At a verytender age, my lads, our friend Frank Hawkswas playing children’s parts in Minneapolis.But then the family moved to California – maybeto live down the scandal of a performingson, and Frank got serious, beingmightly busy just going to high school.

“Maybe it was fate, but something happenedthat changed Frank Hawks’ ideasabout what he wanted to be when he grewup. The Christofferson brothers, who werepretty great shakes in those days, and pioneersin flying, set up a shop on the beachoutside Frank’s home town. They tookup passengers. But they charged plenty forit, and Frank, while he hung around a lot, never had the money to go up, although hewas mighty anxious to fly.

“Finally he got an idea. If he couldn’tget up in the usual way, he’d find a way hecould go up. So young Frank got himself apencil, a notebook, and a mighty importantlook, and approached one of the Christoffersons.‘I'm from the newspaper, Mr. Christofferson,’he says, ‘and I’d like an interviewwith you.’ And he interviewed himjust as serious as you please, with Christoffersonpleased as could be, thinking of thepublicity and the new passengers he’d get.Then young Frank asked if he couldn’t goup, in order to write his impressions of anairplane ride. Of course, of course.

“So Frank Hawks got his first ride in anairplane, and decided on his future career.Aviation got a recruit and Christoffersonwaited a long time for his interview to appear.In fact, he waited indefinitely.

“The problem for Frank then was toget another ride. He finally went to theflyer, and told him what he had done. Hewas forgiven, and worked out his passagefor that ride and other rides by workingaround the flying field. It was then helearned to fly. But business was not toogood, and the brothers moved on. FrankHawks went on with his high school work, and was graduated in 1916. Thought heought to have more book learning, so hewent on to the University of California.

“But the war stopped that. When he wastwenty, Hawks joined the army, the FlyingCorps. He was too good, though. Toogood for his own good. They never senthim to France, where he wanted to go. Instead, they made him an instructor, so thathe could teach green recruits how to fly. Atthe end of the war he was discharged, withthe title of Captain.

“The five years after that were hectic ones.Aviation was still new – interest in it hadbeen stirred up by war flying, and all sortsof men, young, old, every kind, bought upold planes from the government and wentbarnstorming around the country, takingpeople up on flights, stunting, flying in aircircuses, balloon jumping, and doing anythingthey could to make money with theirtubs. Some of these planes were no morethan old junk, and the flyers no more thanthe rankest amateurs. But there were someof them who were good, and one of thesewas Hawks. He went dizzily stunting aroundthe country, until’ he got himself the reputationof being just plain crazy, but a greatflyer.

“There were ups and downs, to be sure.And I don’t mean to be funny, either, mylads. The people in the United Stateswere getting just a little weary of going upin airplanes just for the fun of the thing – theywere getting too common. But – therewere people down in Mexico who had neverseen a plane, much less flown in one, sodown to Mexico went Hawks. He gave.Mexico plenty of thrills, and Mexico gavehim some, too. The country was unsettledat the time, upset with revolutions. Hawksgot a job flying a diplomat from MexicoCity to his ranch, because they’d be safer inthe air than going by automobile throughthe mountains. Hawks even tried ranchingfor a while, but it didn’t work.

“He decided to go back to the UnitedStates, and when he went back he marriedEdith Bowie, who hailed from Texas. Downin Texas Hawks flew over the cotton fieldswith arsenic to kill the boll weevils. Heworked in the oil fields, too, as a driller. Itwas good experience for him. They foundout that he could fly, and he got a job pilotingofficials of the oil company from placeto place in the oil country. They found thatthey were saving time and money.

“At this time Lindy flew over the Atlantic.Hawks bought the Spirit of San Diego, which was the sister ship to the Spirit ofSt. Louis, and flew across the country togreet Lindbergh when he came back. He flew4,000 miles on a National tour with theSpirit of San Diego, and then 7,000 milescriss-cross.

“Luck was with him. He was going toreap his just rewards. He became a memberof one of the country’s richest oil companies,as their technical flying expert. He advisedthem in buying planes, and chose their pilotsfor them, and in addition, had to sell flyingto the country.

“And maybe he didn’t set out in earnestto make the country sit up and take noticethen! There was a Wasp-motored LockheedAir Express monoplane at themanufacturers’ in Los Angeles, and it had to be flownto New York. Hawks got the bright ideathat he could fly it across the country withouta stop. And he did.

“It was his first cross-country flight, andhis hardest. In the first place, it was February, and the weather was pretty bad forflying – so uncertain that they couldn’t predictwhat he’d run into. But he decided totake his chance. This was in 1929. Ofcourse, its being 1929 didn’t make it anyharder, but I just thought I ought to tellyou what year it was. The start from LosAngeles wasn’t bad. He had a mechanicwith him to keep filling the gasoline engines,a fellow by the name of Oscar Grubb. Theyhadn’t flown for very long when they raninto a fog. Hawks thought he’d try flyingbelow the ceiling – but he ran into a snowstorm. Then he tried climbing above it.He couldn’t get over it.

“And in the midst of all this terrible strainof flying through fog so thick that he couldn’tsee the nose of his plane, the engine beganto miss. The tank was empty. Heswitched on the other tank. It was empty, too. Why hadn’t Oscar warned him thatthe fuel supply was out? What had happenedto it? Hawks looked back. Therewas Oscar, sprawled out, fast asleep. But hewoke up. Pretty lucky for Oscar Grubbthat he did, and typical Hawks luck. Thetanks were filled, and on they flew throughthe murk and fog. The fog cleared a littlewhen they got to Kentucky, but Hawksdidn’t know where he was, anyway. Itwasn’t until they got to Washington thathe recognized his position, by the Capitoldome. From there he sped to New York, where everybody was glad to see him. Nowonder. This speedy gentleman had madethe trip in 18 hours, 21 minutes, breakingall speed records then existing for non-stopcross country flight.

“It got to be a habit, this record-breaking.His next venture was New York to LosAngeles and back. He left Roosevelt field at8 o’clock in the morning, and was in LosAngeles in the evening. Seven hours laterhe turned back and in 17½ hours more hewas back again at Roosevelt field. It wasdark coming down, and he broke a wing, but he escaped unhurt. He’d broken theeast-west, west-east, and round trip records, all of them, making the round trip in 36hours and 48 some minutes.

“Hawks never let people forget him forlong. He was out to sell speed to the country, and he knew that the way to do it wasby speeding. In July everybody began tohear about the ‘mystery ship’ that was beingbuilt for him. It was a monoplane. OnAugust 6th, it was a mystery no longer.Hawks was going to race with the sun. Thesun had always beaten him so far, and hewanted a return match, for revenge.

“So he lifted his monoplane into the airin New York, just as the sun was rising, atabout 6 in the morning. He flew right withthat sun and got into Los Angeles beforeit had set, or just about 10 minutes before6 o’clock in the evening. He’d beaten datol’ davil sun, all right. One week later, andhe was on his way back across the continentagain, and got to New York in less than12½ hours.

“Well, he’d proved how quickly youcould get across the United States in an ordinaryplane. Then he showed how youcould cross with a glider, towed by an enginedplane. Why, you ask. Well, in thefirst place, it attracted attention to gliders.And gliders are important in aviation. Andthen, if towed gliders are practical, theymight solve the problem of carrying payloads in cross-country flights. The glidercould be loaded up, hitched to an airplane, and go from New York to any point west.That was the idea. Well, Hawks did attractattention. It took him six and a half daysto get from San Diego to New York, stoppingoff at a lot of cities, and just generallybumming around the country.

“In 1930 about the only spectacular flightthat Frank Hawks made was the tour withWill Rogers, when they flew around thecountry seeking help for the drought victims.They covered 57 cities in 17 days, whichmeant a lot of work, because they put on ashow wherever they stopped. Hawks, withhis stage experience behind him, fitted inperfectly with the plan. He not only couldfly, but he developed a patter, modeled afterWill Rogers’ and came out chewing gumand swinging a lariat.