[Powder Puff Problems and the Curse of the Ladybirds] Page: 9 of 46
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Drank T. Copeland, managing director of the Derby, did not feel he was a
visionary to says 'The National Women's Air Derby will prove to the American
public the safety, the reliability and simplicity of long-distance cross-country
flying and serve as a stimulus to public interest in aviation, which is essential
if America is to keep pace with the European powers..." (Exchangite, August,1929)
The object of the race was to show that since the women could do it, it
was simple safe, and practical. In fact, though, 1929 cross-country flying
was pretty tricky for anybody, and the record of the Derby would underline this
so sharply as to make heroines of all the contestants.
Remarkably, the Derby has never been treated in any detail by a working
historian. Accounts by three of the contestants-- Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols,
and Louise Thaden-- are notable for the way they smoothly neglect any disputes
among the contestants, between the fliers and the race officials, or between
those officials and the sponsors. Here is Louise Thaden, for example, relating
the first overnight stop at San Bernardino:
"Following the first of the inevitable banquets in our honor where is
served the equally inevitable fried chicken, a pilots' meeting is called--
Calexico has been deleted as the next stop., We will take off direct for Yuma
at the scheduled 6:00 o'clock in the morning time." (Aviation Quarterly, 1974)
Compare the San Bernardino Sun, Monday, August 19, 1929:
GIRL AIR RAOR!5 REVOLT= THREATEN STRIKE
Faced with threats of the contestants that they would refuse to take off
this morning unless the race was routed by Yuma, instead of Calexico, Floyd W.
Logan, air race chairman, at 2:30 o'clock this morning agreed to the girls'
demands. He ruled, however, that the girls fly over the Calexico field and land
at Yuma.
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Day, Leon. [Powder Puff Problems and the Curse of the Ladybirds], text, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1029802/m1/9/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.