3 to supply them with fuel through the night there was no time for stray siestas during the days. The only time they ever sat alongside each other was for THAT AIR FUN a short visit after the evening meal. One night as By Louise Thaden they were eating, Frances said, "Richey, it’s Christ­ mas eve.” And Helen answered bleakly, "Gosh, Impolite as it may be to talk of one’s self, man­ what did you go and tell me for?” ners have been overthrown by lack of suitable ma­ "It was so lonesome up there, especially at terial. night. You don’t know how scary it looks when the big thunderheads come rolling in,” the endurance fliers said. They had 12 hours of darkness daily." Once upon a time I delivered a speech before a Before they broke the record they could fly Pennsylvania woman’s club on the records I had around anywhere, but afterwards they stuck to a 5- been on, how it feels to fly, and all the other time­ mile course around the airport as they had to land worn stuff. A whole hour of it. When the agony on it to make the record official. One day when the weather was exceptionally poor they had to come was over one of the dear souls came up, and among down so low over the Bay to refuel that Jack Loesing other things said, "and have you ever piloted a plane said he planned to propose a law for smaller and all by yourself?” tamer fish. They used the Everglades for their • garbage dump, and Helen is still wondering whether she killed an alligator with the enormous turkey leg When Helen Richey was still a student pilot she heaved out after Christmas dinner. long before she ever thought of owning an endurance At least two newspaper editorial writers were record, we took off in a Fleet from Philadelphia, quite unimpressed by the endurance flight. One, on I to show her what a swell training plane the new the Los Angeles Times, stated: "It merely proves Fleet was. After flying around a tew minutes the that two women can stand the gaff of pretty stick was given to Helen. Eventually, I reclaimed strenuous work for more than eight days . and the stick, shortly holding my hands up to show her that housewives proved long before these two flyers I didn’t have it and she should take it over. We were born.” So he thinks it was pretty strenuous, made a few banks, some manoeuvers I couldn’t eh what? Frankly, one is moved to feel sympathy classify but privately placed against student pilots, no end for the housewives of this writer’s acquain­ eventually going into a perfect glide for the field. tance. Nearing the boundary it became increasingly evident And a Worcester (Mass.) Telegram writer, in that something drastic would have to be done if we an editorial called Ambition without Accomplish­ were to sit down on the airport. Waiting until the ment. says that "Except for the satisfaction inherent last possible moment I grabbed the stick and pushed in joint ownership of a record which somebody may the throttle wide. Imagine my surprise when I felt smash next month, they apparently have done no no one on the controls! Helen thought I had been good to themselves or to anybody else or to aero­ flying all that time, and versa vice. nautics.” Does its writer not regard the fact that two wom- • en have proved not only their ability to carry through a difficult flying job under very trying cir­ In the dear dead days of 1927 when barnstorm­ cumstances an accomplishment? Evidently he is not ing was the rule and pastures the operating base, I familiar with the fact that many a thoroughly ex­ flew to northern California to see my first rodeo. perienced pilot has found it impossible to handle an Close by was a pasture sprinkled slightly with cows airplane in the tight formation position necessary in and mules. Negotiating a landing and leaving the refueling contacts, or that few women or men are ship close by the fence, I blithely sallied forth to equipped with the muscular coordination, the the rodeo. Arriving three hours later to fly back strength and the intestinal fortitude to handle the to San Francisco I found that cows and mules just hose in a refueling contact. Has he heard perhaps LOVE airplane fabric, it’s quite a delicacy. What of the advances being rapidly made in the direction fabric hadn't been licked off had been stomped or of refueling contacts on long distance flights, and gouged through. Eight days later I left for San has he considered that a couple of women pilots Francisco! have in the successful completion of 83 successive contacts contributed something to the advance of Editor's Note—Contributions to this column this phase of flying progress? In any event it will be welcomed. Please address them directly to seems this editor needs to be reminded that any step toward proving piloting calibre is valuable to avia­ Louise Thaden, Editor, That Air Fun in "the 99er,” tion as well as proving ship or engine calibre. 6 408 Pasco Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. - 3 Fe b 2 , 1 9 3 4 1 ran sport choice of jumping or flying I would choose the lat­ ter. There’s less strain on the constitution. But at N o . 1 5 7 7 7 the same time, one gets paid for jumping, while fly­ ing sometimes gets to be an expensive sport. (Mary E. Owens of M a r y E. O w e n s . Fort Worth goes in for licenses on an quantity basis. She holds a trans­ Air-O nically Speeking port pilot’s license, is one Ann Onymuss of the 10 women licensed By by the Department of Has it ever occurred to you to wonder why, of Commerce to rig para­ chutes and is now study­ all the married women more or less prominent in ing for her mechanic’s aviation, so few allow the stork to catch up with license— not to mention them? We have been curious, and have this solu­ a marriage license re­ tion to offer in the event a dearth of aviation off­ cently acquired, accord­ spring should occur: That the Department of Com­ ing to latest advices from T exas.) merce allows a two hundred hour solo time to be MARY E. OWENS logged as a bonus for the mother bearing a child. We personally know three cases of interest. I hardly feel like letting it out of the family that Number one has had two children within the past I jump, as most fliers, for some unknown reason, four years and has passed all physicals during that look down on parachute jumpers. time. Number two had a child a year old, and num­ Nevertheless, it’s great fun; at first anyway. ber three has a brand new baby, obtained without For the new hasn’t worn off for me yet and until default of license. All three are Transports. it does, I suppose I’ll continue to get a big kick out • of it. I think the jump that held the most thrills for Sometimes female pilots so-called give me a me was one made at Curtiss-Wright Field, Grand something-or-other. Wings flapped, feathers flew, Prairie, Texas. At the time I was working for my and loud squawks were heard for years, all due to a Parachute Rigger’s license and wanted to work with suppressed desire to RACE and COMPETE W ITH some Russel Chutes, as I had been working solely MEN. Now look—not even the feathers are flying. on Irvins. One day McIntyre from Curtiss-Wright Being one ourselves, it would afford us a great deal of pleasure to see a woman step out and show her called and said he had two Russels that I could pack if I’d come over. So for hours that day I struggled empinnage to contestants in the MacRobertson In­ with the things, at the end of which time I presented ternational Trophy Race from England to Australia them to Mac for inspection, wondering why I ever this coming October. It would be well worth con­ thought I’d like ’chute packing in the first place. centrated effort and preparation. The speed divi­ He jerked on them for a minute or two and said, sion (there is a handicap also) pays a cash prize "They are O .K . I reckon. Let’s drop test them. of 10,000 pounds first place and a gold trophy worth W here’s your dummy?’’ 500 pounds. (The pound now retails at $5.50 our I had been using a 150-pound dummy to drop money.) • them with, but in the excitement I had forgotten to Now is the time for some enterprising young bring it along. Mac’s feeling in the matter was, woman to show both foresight and "insides.” (A "W ell, that’s not helping you get your Rigger’s term of our own which we feel is more delicate license. They have to be dropped. Why not jump than "guts.”) The interested or curious can write them yourself?” All the Airport idlers and mechs to the Royal Aero Club in London for details. looked around and said, "Yeh . why dontcha?’’ Feeling that we may as well be shot for a sheep There being little left to do under the circum- as a lamb, we wonder why those women pilots who stances, I crawled into the chutes, with a peculiar possess that rare commodity, money, don’t stir their sensation in the pit o f my stomach.