By Penny Rafferty Hamilton
As November is National Aviation History Month, it is time to celebrate a few trailblazing women.
On Nov. 2, 1929, 99 women pilots formed a new international organization, The Ninety-Nines. Here are the aviation stories of three of those trailblazing pilots.
Thea Rasche
In 1924, Germany’s Thea Rasche earned her glider pilot license at the Wasserkuppe. In a few months, Thea was an airplane pilot, and Germany’s first female licensed aerobatic pilot, known as “the Flying Fraulein.”
In 1929, Thea flew at American exhibitions. The Moth Aircraft Corporation then asked her to fly a de Havilland Gipsy Moth in the Powder Puff Derby.
Later, Thea joined in the founding of the International Ninety-Nines, becoming the first German member. In 1932, Thea became Germany’s first woman awarded a seaplane license.
Ruth Rowland Nichols
Another Ninety-Nines founding member and Women’s Air Derby racer was Ruth Rowland Nichols. Born in 1901 to a wealthy family, Ruth’s life changed with an airplane ride. While at college, Ruth secretly took flying lessons. In 1924, she graduated from Wellesley, and earned her pilot’s license. Next, she became the first licensed American woman hydroplane pilot.
In January 1928, as a co-pilot with her flight instructor Harry Rogers, they set a record for their non-stop flight from New York to Miami, Florida. Due to her family background, the press named Ruth the “Flying Debutante.”
By 1927, Ruth was one of the few women licensed to fly transport planes. Over her aviation career, Ruth Nichols held more than 35 women’s aviation records. She flew every type of aircraft, including dirigible, glider, autogyro, fixed wing, seaplane, transport, and even a supersonic jet. In 1958, at the age of 57, as co-pilot, she set new women’s world records for altitude of 51,000 feet and a speed record of 1,000 miles per hour in a TF-102A Delta Dagger.
Writing in her autobiography, “Wings for Life,” Ruth Nichols explained her passion: “To the public I suppose I have often seemed to be the original ‘flying fool.’ While flying over 140 different models of aircraft, I have piloted a plane in a plaster cast and a steel corset, too impatient to wait for bones to knit from the last crash. Maybe it doesn’t make sense…family and friends have urged me to keep my feet on the ground. The only people who haven’t tried to change me are flyers. They comprehend.”
Louise McPhetridge Thaden
One of those who understood was Louise McPhetridge Thaden, another 99s founding member.
Born in Bentonville, Arkansas, in November 1905, Louise was fascinated with flying. Luckily, in the fall of 1926, Walter Beech, the aviation entrepreneur, hired Louise as an assistant for his San Francisco West Coast Travel Air distributor. Louise worked during the day. At night, she took flying lessons. In just a few months, she earned her pilot’s license. She logged enough flight hours to qualify for her transport license.
Between December 1928 and April 1929, Louise set three aviation records in altitude, endurance, and speed. She is the first American woman to hold these records simultaneously.
In 1929, Louise entered the first Women’s Air Derby piloting a Beech Travel Air. On Aug. 18, 1929, female flyers left Santa Monica, California. On Aug. 26, 1929, an estimated 18,000 people gathered at the Cleveland Municipal Airport in Ohio to greet the women pilots, who had flown 2,800 miles. Louise won with the fastest time of 20 hours, 19 minutes, and 4 seconds.
In November, 1929, Louise and many of the other Women’s Air Derby pilots formed the Ninety-Nines organization. Thaden served as vice president (1931-36) and as treasurer (1930-34).
In 1936, Louise was invited to race in the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race. She teamed with co-pilot Blanche Noyes, also a founding member of the Ninety-Nines. Flying a Beech Staggerwing C17R, Louise and Blanche won the $4,500 first place money, along with the coveted Bendix Air Trophy. They also won the $2,500 prize for first female team to cross the finish line. Today, that would be about $138,000. Later, Louise won the 1936 Harmon Trophy for Outstanding Aviator.
For many years, Thaden was a demonstration pilot for the Beech Aircraft Company. During World War II, she volunteered with Ruth Nichols Relief Wings.
In her book, “High, Wide and Frightened,” Louise wrote, “Flight is the essence of the spirit. It nurtures the soul. It is awesome. Often ethereal. Glorious. Emotionally wondrous and all-pervading. Intangible.”
Penny Hamilton, Ph.D., has just released her latest book “101 Trailblazing Women of Air and Space: Aviators and Astronauts,” which is packed with true stories of world history-makers. You can find the book on Amazon and learn more at PennyHamilton.com.