Months after the Wright brothers broke the limits of flight, more and more men around the world were inventing their own planes and heading into the wild blue there. They sat on top of one of the wings of the plane, and the controls consisted of two levers, and they weren’t wearing seat belts, if you can believe it!
Many women also wanted to fly, of course, but were usually turned away when requesting flying lessons. Many men legitimately felt that women did not have the temperament to fly, but many more simply wanted to save the blue for themselves. The pilots had great prestige, and if a woman could do it, obviously it couldn’t be that difficult!
However, many determined women persevered and earned their wings. And several of them died doing what they loved. Of course, double standards were back in place. There were more male fliers than female fliers, many more, and when they collided and died, that was something that happened to pioneers in a dangerous sport. When a woman died, it showed that all women were not fit to fly.
But it took World War I for the pioneering women of flight to go ashore. After the war ended, many women had moved on with their lives, and it took the next generation of pilots a few years to get off the ground.
In 1929, there were only 70 licensed female pilots in the United States. Of these, only 40 had accumulated 100 hours of solo flight.
Twenty of those women got together in 1929 to fly in the Powder Puff Derby. It was part of the National Air Races, but it was strictly for women. Participants included the best-known pilots of the day, including Amelia Earhart (who did not finish), Marvel Crosson (killed due to carbon monoxide from her plane’s exhaust entering the cockpit), Pancho Barnes, Louise Thaden, Blanche Noyes, Bobbi. Trout (who did not finish)
Louise Thaden won the race … but then came Black Friday and the stock market crash of 1929. Flying planes, always expensive, became increasingly out of control for the average person, preventing many women from learning to fly.
Not all of them, however, and when World War II loomed on the horizon, many women tried to enlist in the Army Air Force to help defend their country. They were rejected. Some of the more determined, like Jacqueline Cochran, flew to England, where they joined the ATA, the Air Transport Auxiliary. Many British women were also part of the ATA and flew everything from pursuit planes like the Hurricane and Spitfire to heavy bombers across the country. (The unfit for duty men also flew for the ATA.)
At the end of 1942, when the realities of war were hitting the higher ranks of the military, the WAFS was formed under the command of Nancy Harkness Love. They were the Women’s Ferry Auxiliary Squadron, and consisted of an elite group of female pilots, all with hundreds of flight hours. Jacqueline Cochran returned from England and, using her own influence, succeeded in having the WAFS transferred to an organization that she had originally proposed: the WASP (Women’s Auxiliary Services Pilots).
Thousands of women applied to join WASP, many of whom had no flying experience. Of these, a little over a thousand were chosen and began training in two separate locations. After graduation, they were assigned to air bases where they transported planes across the country or towed targets for male pilots to practice their marksmanship. It was dangerous work, but nonetheless, women were paid roughly half what their male counterparts were paid, and when they died (as 38 of them did) it was their families who had to pay for it. have his remains sent home.
In 1944, when it became clear that the war had been won, the WASP was summarily dissolved. They were no longer needed, so they were allowed to pay for the trip home. (And forgotten for over 30 years by the US government.)
But more than a thousand female pilots did not want to be punished, and those who could afford to keep flying. In 1947, therefore, the Powder Puff Derby was resurrected, and for 30 years these women, and many others who acquired their license after the war, flew across the country each year with great success and publicity.
In 1985, seven years after the last Powder Puff Derby flowed, AWTAR published a yearbook of all 30 races, with dozens of photos of the women, their planes, and sponsors throughout the years. (AWTAR stands for All Women’s Transcontinental Air Race, as the Derby was officially known.)
In 1952, for example, the honorary holder was actor Robert Taylor. In 1954, the actor Robert Stack. In 1955, Crystal City Texas, home of “Popeye”, sponsored pilot Marian Burke, and a life-size model of Popeye flew in the back seat. In 1965, the Esso Tiger (a disguise obviously) flew co-pilot.
In the comics (also known as the newspaper comics), STEVE CANYON had a female pilot character named Bitsy. In 1969, Bitsy enters the race, but is forced to leave the race on a rescue mission. Also in 1969, Charles Schultz commemorated his entire career in a PEANUTS cartoon series featuring Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie. If Snoopy hadn’t commanded his trusty Sopwith Camel at the last minute, who knows if Peppermint Patty would have won.
Several factors contributed to the demise of the Powder Puff Derby in 1977. Among them, the rise of Title IX and the desire of women to break into male strongholds. In tit for tat, a male pilot sued to be allowed to fly the Powder Puff Derby … and any lawsuit, of course, exhausts the funds of those involved. SO 1977 saw the last race.
But the women hardly missed a beat. A shortened version, called the Air Race Classic, began the following year. They would no longer fly across the country, they would only fly through the middle!
It remains to be seen if the race can continue to find sponsors and drivers so that the 2009 race can take off as planned. With the US economy in its current sorry condition, it could affect the number of participants.
Hopefully the pilots, all pilots, are not grounded in the next few years and that the Air Race Classic is still alive!
Bibliography:
Powder Puff Derby: The Record, 1947-1977. Edited by Kay A. Brick. AWTAR, Inc. 1985 (I am proud and saddened to know that I am familiar with WASP / air racer Betty Wharton’s own copy of this book.