Episode Transcript
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SERIES PUBLICATIONS OF THE. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
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SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN AIR AND SPACE NUMBER 2
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United States Women in Aviation through World War One
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by Claudia M Oakes
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Aerial Photography from Photations Visit Photations.com and www.PhotationsStore.com for more fine art photography
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Help support this series by visiting PhotationsDonations.com
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Katherine Stinson
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Katherine Stinson, the fourth woman in the United States to obtain a pilot’s license, was the oldest in a family of four prominent aviators
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Her brother Jack was an early flyer, her brother Eddie founded Stinson Aircraft Company, and her sister Marjorie became an accomplished aviatrix in her own right Katherine’s first reason for wanting to learn to fly was to help finance another career
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She dreamed of becoming an accomplished pianist but did not have enough money to continue her education in music After reading that aviators were earning substantial prize money for exhibition flights, she decided to try this method
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By the time she learned to fly, however, she had come to love it so much that she abandoned her thought of a career in music and devoted herself instead to aviation
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Finding an aviation school wasn’t easy Several that she tried went out of business before her instruction could begin
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Finally she went to Chicago, where she joined Max Lillie’s spring class at Cicero Field She received her license on 24 July 1912, after qualifying in a Wright B
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She decided to wait a year before beginning exhibition flying because she was so young, only 16, but she continued practice flying In July 1913 she began her exhibition career in Cincinnati, Ohio, and from that time on flew in meets all over the country
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Katherine became the first woman authorized to carry airmail
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She established this record 23–27 September 1913, while she was appearing at the Helena, Montana, Fairgrounds The Helena postmaster had telegraphed the Post Office Department in Washington, D
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C , requesting sanctioning of an airmail route from the Fairgrounds to the Federal Building in downtown Helena
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Permission was granted, and the route was officially numbered 663,002 Katherine was sworn in as pilot, and in the four days she flew the route, she carried 1333 postcards and letters
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Throughout 1913 and 1914 Katherine appeared all over the United States
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In August 1914 she and her sister Marjorie, who had just graduated from the Wright School of Aviation, flew together for the first time at a meet in Kansas City, Miss. ouri
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The Stinson family had moved to San Antonio, Texas, by then and during that following winter Katherine and Marjorie began giving flying instruction there, promoting aviation in local schools, organizing model airplane clubs, and giving plane rides to school children They also gave flying lessons to their brothers Jack and Eddie
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Katherine was asked to participate in the 1913 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California With her aircraft decorated with roses, she flew along over the parade route
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In March 1915 the famous aerobatic flyer Lincoln Beachey was killed, and Katherine purchased the 80 hp Gnome rotary engine from Beachey’s aircraft
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She had this engine installed in a tractor biplane which was being built especially for her by the Partridge and Keller Aeroplane Company She also hired Beachey’s mechanic
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On 18 July 1915, at Cicero Field in Chicago, Katherine became the first woman in the world to loop the loop She expanded on this feat by developing her 'dippy twist' loop, a vertical bank in which the aircraft rolled wing over wing when the top of the loop was reached
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She performed this maneuver for the first time on 21 November 1915, and followed it in her next flight by making eight consecutive loops, flying upside down for thirty seconds, and executing a series of spiral spins
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About 25 people in Los Angeles on December 17, 1915, were privileged to witness what was perhaps Katherine’s most spectacular flight Always determined to go the male flyers one maneuver better, Katherine started planning this flight after she heard that Art Smith had looped the loop at night, leaving behind him a trail of fire
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Katherine attached magnesium flares to her aircraft and traced the letters 'CAL' in the night sky
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Then she looped, flew upside down, and dropped in a spiral to within one hundred feet of the ground, trailing lovely showers of sparks
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By this time the Stinsons had formally established an aviation school in San Antonio on their own private flying field They had 14 students in January 1916
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Katherine was now able to afford another aircraft for her exhibition work: she rented a tractor biplane from E M
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(Matty) Laird Taking this plane with her, when sailed from San Francisco in December 1916 for a tour of Japan and China
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She stayed in the Orient six months and was the first woman to fly there
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At the outbreak of World War One Katherine wanted to enlist as a military aviator, but she was rejected because of her sex Undaunted, she sought to put her flying to good use for her country by working for the Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives
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She was checked out in a Curtiss JN military trainer and began a fund raising flight in this aircraft on 24 June 1917, from Buffalo, New York She flew to Albany, where she spent the night, and then flew on to New York City and Philadelphia before reaching her destination, Washington, D
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C , at 7:35 P
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M She landed at the Polo Grounds guided only by the Washington Monument and a large white canvas cross spread on the ground
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The total distance she had covered was 670 miles, her longest flight to date She was presented with a dollar in the amount of 50,000 check, which she immediately turned over to the Treasury Department for the Red Cross Fund
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Along her route from Buffalo to Washington, Katherine had dropped cards encouraging people to make contributions
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Whenever possible during this time, Katherine assisted her sister Marjorie at the Stinson Aviation School, training U
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S and Canadian military pilots
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She also continued building her own career On 11 December 1917 Katherine established a new endurance record in her nine hour ten minute flight from San Diego to San Francisco
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Only a few months later, on 23 May 1918, she set another distance and endurance record with the 601 763 mile flight from Chicago to Binghamton, New York, in ten hours ten minutes
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In the summer of 1918 Katherine went to Canada for a series of exhibition flights While there she established a Canadian distance and endurance record and also carried the first airmail in Canada
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Katherine still wanted a more active role in the war effort She was finally granted permission to go to England and France as an ambulance driver and was able to do some flying there for the Red Cross
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While abroad she contracted influenza and had to return to the United States Her health worsened and she was forced to retire from aviation in 1920
