Women Aviators (9 page)

Louise McPhetridge was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, on November 12, 1905, to Edna and Roy McPhetridge. Louise grew up on a farm, and her father, a traveling salesman, taught her to hunt, fish, and fix a car. She developed an interest in flying early on. When Louise was five years old, she begged for five dollars to buy a ride from a barnstormer. That amount allowed her only five minutes of flying time, but it was enough.

After graduating from high school, Louise attended the University of Arkansas. She didn't know what she wanted to do. She started as a journalism major, later changing to physical education. Instead of returning for a fourth year of college, Louise moved to Wichita, Kansas, to work as a sales clerk for a coal company. Her employer was on the board of Travel Air. Louise spent as much time as she could at the airfield, until Walter Beech, the owner of Travel Air, offered her a sales job in Oakland, California. The best part of her new job was that flying lessons were part of the benefits package.

The year 1928 was a busy one for Louise. She earned her pilot's license, signed by Orville Wright, in May. Two months later, she married Herbert von Thaden, a US Army pilot and aeronautical engineer. By the end of the year, she set one of many records: a women's altitude record, which she clinched at 20,260 feet (6,179 meters). Within four months, she also held women's endurance and speed records and was the only woman to hold all three records at the same time.

After her 1929 Women's Air Derby win, Louise, Amelia Earhart, and Ruth Nichols established the Ninety-Nines. Louise served as treasurer and vice president in the group's early years.

Working as the public relations director of Pittsburgh Aviation Industries, Louise took every opportunity to publicize aviation and even wrote articles about it. She became director of the
Women's Division of the Penn School of Aeronautics—the first flight school to have a women's division—in 1930.

But her aviation records, such as a refueling endurance record, drew the most attention. Louise flew over Long Island, New York, from August 14 to 22, 1932, with Frances Marsalis to establish a 196-hour refueling endurance record. Fellow aviator Viola Gentry organized food and supplies. Live radio broadcasts from their Curtiss Thrush biplane generated publicity. They went 74 hours longer than the previous endurance record, which had been set by Bobbi Trout and Edna May Cooper. Their long ride wasn't a comfortable one. They had stripped out the extra seat, so they brought an air mattress for naps—but it was punctured during the second day.

In 1934, Louise's friend, fellow pilot Phoebe Omlie, convinced Louise to work with her on the Air Marking Program. Phoebe had convinced the government that using paint or bricks on the roofs of tall buildings or hillsides to identify airports and towns would help pilots navigate from the air. The Bureau of Air Commerce put Phoebe in charge. Louise enjoyed the work. Phoebe appointed her to be in charge of the western part of the United States. At least 13,000 markers were created throughout the country.

Soon after Louise's Bendix win, she received the Harmon Trophy for outstanding aviation. A year later, she took a break from flying to spend time with her family, including her two young children, Bill and Pat. During this time, she also wrote a book about her adventures,
High, Wide, and Frightened.

During World War II, Louise joined the Civil Air Patrol, soon rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and working with her old friend Ruth Nichols on Relief Wings.

Louise last raced with her daughter in the 1950 International Women's Air Race from Montreal, Canada, to West Palm Beach,
Florida, for a fifth-place finish. A year later, her hometown of Bentonville renamed its airport Louise M. Thaden Field.

T
WELVE-YEAR-OLD
E
VELYN “
B
OBBI”
T
ROUT
was outside one day when she heard a loud noise. Looking up, she saw an airplane, the first she had ever seen. She kept it in her sight as long as she could. When the airplane was gone, she grinned and said, “I'm going to fly airplanes when I grow up.”

Born in Greenup, Illinois, on January 7, 1906, Evelyn Trout preferred fixing things to cooking and sewing. When she was 14, she and her parents moved to Los Angeles. Mrs. Trout did her best to get her daughter to dress like girls did in the 1920s, but she threw up her hands in defeat when Bobbi came home one
day with a very short hairstyle called a bob. Bobbi had seen it on movie star Irene Castle. That's when Evelyn became “Bobbi.”

Bobbi went to school and thought about becoming an architect. She enjoyed competing in sports; she was best at swimming. At home, money was often tight, particularly when her father was in charge of it. He was known to have schemes that didn't work. He also disappeared from time to time. Bobbi must have inherited her mother's sense of business, because the two owned and operated a successful gas station, the Radio Service Station. Her mother took care of the money, while Bobbi served the customers. Music and comedy shows played over the radio speakers. Customers would listen while Bobbi filled up their cars with gasoline and washed their windows.

When Bobbi started talking about airplanes, her eyes lit up. One of the customers, W. E. “Tommy” Thomas, just happened to have a Curtiss Jenny airplane. He offered 16-year-old Bobbi a ride. That first flight was everything she had hoped it would be.

Bobbi began saving her money for flying lessons. When she had saved $2,500, she approached Burdett Fuller, who ran an aviation school. On the first day of 1928, Bobbi Trout began learning to fly. It wasn't all fun. One day, she worked with a young flight instructor on forced landings. He insisted that she make a three-quarter turn and land. She told him the elevation was too low. He disagreed and decided he would show this opinionated girl what a male pilot could do. He crashed the Jenny. It was her first and last lesson with this pilot.

Four months later, Bobbi soloed; she got her license two weeks after that. Bobbi's mother then bought her an International K-6, a four-place biplane. Bobbi became the fifth woman in America to obtain a transport license, which she did in 1930, two years after becoming a licensed pilot.

Bobbi knew she had to have a sponsor if she wanted to make a living from flying. Sunset Oil Company said it would provide her with free fuel and oil if she would allow its painted logo on her airplane. (Sunset Oil would be the first of many sponsors; Bobbi even flew Mickey Mouse around for Walt Disney.)

One day, a man approached her after she landed the Jenny. His name was R. O. Bone. He said, “I need someone to demonstrate my new airplane. Are you interested? I'll give you $35 a week.”

“When do I start?” Bobbi asked.

The plane was the Golden Eagle, an experimental airplane with a LeBlond 60-horsepower engine designed by Mark Campbell. Bobbi won her first race in it. On January 2, 1929, she took it up before dawn. She returned 12 hours and 11 minutes later, making her first night landing. Even more important, she had set a women's solo endurance record.

Then, later that month, Elinor Smith broke Bobbi's record. So Bobbi went up again just over a month after that; she lasted five hours longer than Smith and reclaimed the record. When she landed, she got a surprise: cameras and movie stars were waiting for her, including one of the most popular men in America, Will Rogers.

Airplanes were getting more powerful, and Bobbi's was just too small and light. By the summer of 1929, she moved up to a 90-horsepower Golden Eagle Chief. When she broke 15,200 feet (4,636 meters), she added an altitude record to her other achievements.

She had been talking to other pilots, such as Louise Thaden and Elinor Smith, about a woman's refueling endurance flight. But before that could happen, it was time for the first Women's Air Derby, a transcontinental race in which she would fly Bone's
newest plane: the 90-horsepower Golden Eagle Chief, a high-wing monoplane.

On August 18, 1929, Bobbi joined 19 other licensed female pilots at Clover Field in Santa Monica, California. She drew the fifth start. As the flag went down, she made an effortless takeoff. On the second day, her engine stopped while she was in flight. When making an emergency landing six miles from the Yuma Airport, she flipped over. Damage to the plane took three days to repair. However, even after waiting for repairs, she managed to catch up with many of the pilots near Kansas City. She hadn't been the only one with problems.

Her plane suffered more engine problems, but this time she made her own repairs. She figured she was out of the race, but she pushed on and eventually finished. Bobbi Trout never quit.

After the derby, Bobbi focused on the women's refueling endurance flight with Elinor Smith. Promoter Jack Sherrill had arranged for them to use a Sunbeam biplane. They flipped a coin to determine who would fly first. Elinor won.

They took off on November 25, 1929. The two pilots planned to alternate flying and sleeping in four-hour shifts. Bobbi could rest, but only after she performed necessary jobs. And refueling wasn't the only task: Engine oil needed to be changed daily, and the rocker arms needed to be greased. Fuel had to be pumped from the cabin tank to the fuel tank, an exhausting job that took a lot of arm strength. Supplies and fuel came courtesy of a rope, which was lowered from another airplane. Provisions were lowered in a bag. The other plane then lowered a pipe for fueling. Bobbi would catch the bag and rope. The nozzle was then be secured to a port in the cabin fuel tanks. From there, 180 gallons (680 liters) of fuel were hand-pumped from the bigger tanks to the plane's smaller tank.

All went well on the first attempt until the planes drifted apart, jerking the gas line out and soaking Bobbi with gasoline. She also swallowed some of it. Elinor quickly landed, and Bobbi was rushed to the hospital.

They took off again on November 27, 1929. The first two days went well, but on the third day, Bobbi noticed black smoke coming from the exhaust of the supply plane above them. Where there's smoke, there's often fire—and gasoline is highly flammable. Bobbi pulled the hose out quickly, while Elinor moved their plane away from the supply plane. The supply plane had to make a forced landing. There would be no more refueling.

Bobbi and Elinor remained in the air as long as their fuel lasted. They landed after 42 hours and 3.5 minutes. They were the first all-woman refueling endurance flight.

Bobbi went on to break that refueling record with actress and aviator Edna May Cooper on January 4, 1931. She even celebrated her 25th birthday in the air with birthday cake sent up by a friend. On day three of that flight, their engine began to cough and spit oil. When they were no longer able to maintain altitude, they landed. They had used 1,138 gallons (4,307 liters) of fuel. Their official time in the air was 122 hours and 50 minutes.

The refueling endurance flight brought Bobbi more acclaim, including the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Medallion from the FAI. She also became one of three aviators to receive the Aviation Cross from King Carol II of Romania. The other two recipients were Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh.

When the Great Depression arrived, Bobbi worked as a flight instructor for a while before joining fellow pilot Pancho Barnes in the Women's Air Reserve, which would allow them to help in catastrophes. The organization flew in medical personnel and supplies to disaster sites. Bobbi received training in first aid, navigation, and military maneuvers.

World War II dried up many flying jobs, but Bobbi learned that aircraft manufacturers were just throwing away rivets because it was too expensive to pay people to sort them. Metal was even more precious during wartime, so Bobbi invented a machine to sort airplane rivets during manufacturing. The rivet-sorting machine saved unused rivets that fell to the ground during the manufacturing process. Her business, the Aero Reclaiming Company, was successful, and she sold it three years later. She then developed deburring equipment to smooth out the edges of machined metal. Because of her inventions, Bobbi was awarded a certificate of achievement from Inventors Workshop International.