Elinor Smith
Elinor Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Elinor Regina Patricia Ward August 17, 1911 New York City, New York |
Died | March 19, 2010 | (aged 98)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Pioneering aviator |
Spouse | Patrick Sullivan |
Elinor Smith (August 17, 1911 – March 19, 2010) was a pioneering American aviator,
Early life
Smith was born Elinor Regina Patricia Ward (her actor father changed his name to Tom Smith, in order to avoid being mistaken for another performer, thus she became Elinor Smith) in New York City and grew up in
Aviation career
Early flying experience
In 1918, at the age of six, along with her brother Joe, she took her first plane ride in a
Stunt flying under New York bridges
To this point, her family had kept publicity to a minimum, to allow her to hone her flying skills without the distraction of public attention.
Breaking records
Endurance records
Numerous other feats followed close on. Until late 1928, there was no established women's flying endurance record; Smith decided to establish one, but was beaten to it. On December 20, Viola Gentry flew for eight hours, six minutes. As far as Smith was concerned, all that did was to establish a tangible target, one that Red Devereaux said Smith could break "standing on [her] head."[25] However, before Smith could finish her preparations, on January 2, 1929, Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout, flying in California, upped the record to 12 hours. Under FAI rules, endurance records had to be broken by a full hour.[26]
In late January 1929, it became clear that Gentry was ready to have another go at the record.
The next day, Gentry crashed on takeoff while attempting to better Smith's achievement; Gentry was unharmed, but her plane was damaged.[7] Bobbi Trout took back the endurance record with a 17-hour flight on February 10–11,[30] but three months later, in April 1929, Smith smashed that record, soloing 26½ hours in a Bellanca CH monoplane. That flight also made her the first woman ever to pilot such a large and powerful aircraft.[1]
Speed record
The following month she set a woman's world speed record of 190.8 miles per hour (307.1 km/h) in a
Endurance with mid-air refueling
Also in 1929, flying out of Metropolitan Airport (now Van Nuys Airport) in Los Angeles, she and Bobbi Trout (who functioned as co-pilot) set the first official women's record for endurance with mid-air refueling. They were aloft 42½ hours in a Sunbeam biplane powered by a 300-horsepower J-6 Wright engine. Smith did the contact flying while Trout handled the fueling hoses.[1][31][32] Their refueling craft, a Curtiss Pigeon with a Liberty L-12 engine, was piloted by Paul Whittier with Pete Reinhart handling the hose.[33] Smith and Trout were hoping for a record of at least 100 hours, and shooting for 164 hours (nearly a week),[34] but this was not to be. The two craft were not terribly well suited to the task at hand. The Pigeon was chosen for its large cargo capacity to carry fuel, but it was an outdated aircraft with a temperamental engine for which spare parts were not easily obtained. In refueling position, the Pigeon's pilot could not see the Sunbeam at all, so there was no way to signal about any engine problems that would mean sudden loss of altitude. The Sunbeam was not a notably stable aircraft; in Smith's words, "it had to be flown every single minute with the concentration of a test flight." Furthermore, the two craft were mismatched in terms of velocity: whenever they were refueling, the Pigeon had to fly near its top speed while the Sunbeam slowed down to just above its stalling speed.[35]
The first attempt at the record nearly ended in disaster around the 12-hour mark. During refueling near
Altitude record
In March 1930 she added almost 1 mile (1.6 km) to the world altitude record, flying to a height of 27,419 feet (8,357 m).
In March 1931, flying out of
Later years
The Great Depression scrubbed her hopes of a non-stop solo trans-Atlantic flight in a Lockheed Vega, though she continued for several years to be a prominent stunt flyer, performing numerous fund-raisers for the homeless and needy.[1] In 1934, Smith became the third person—and first woman—to be pictured on a Wheaties box.[41]
Smith married New York State legislator and attorney
Sullivan died in 1956, and Smith returned to the air. Her membership in the
Smith died on March 19, 2010, in Palo Alto, California.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Phyllis R. Moses, The Amazing Aviatrix Elinor Smith, Woman Pilot, March 30, 2008. Accessed online December 15, 2008.
- ISBN 1-57488-199-X. p. 99.
- ^ a b c Elinor Smith Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Cradle of Aviation Museum. Accessed online December 15, 2008.
- ^ a b Patricia Sullivan (March 24, 2010). "Pioneering pilot Elinor Smith Sullivan dies at 98". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
- ^ a b "Says She Flew Under East River Bridges; Elinor Smith, 17, Reports Feat at Curtiss Field--Tells of Dodging Ships", The New York Times, October 22, 1928. p. 3.
- ^ a b c Miss Elinor Smith Wed Quietly in July; Aviatrix Became Wife of P.H. Sullivan, Nephew of Late Tammany Leader", The New York Times, November 10, 1933, p. 8.
- ^ a b "Girl Flier Crashes at Roosevelt Field; Miss Gentry Smashes Plane in Ditch Where Fonck Craft Fell Three Years Ago. Was Taking Off with Load Preparing for Duration Attempt-- Elinor Smith Rests After Setting Record for Women", The New York Times, February 1, 1929. p. 2.
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 22–23, 37, 39, 54
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 32
- ^ ISBN 978-0-374-37115-9
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 41
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 43–44
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 47 et. seq.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 43
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 49
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 49–51
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 60
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 59–60
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 58
- ^ Phyllis R. Moses (op. cit.) says she was the first person to do so. An October 22, 1928, report in The New York Times describes her only as the first woman to do so, but does not name any man who might have done this previously. The page about her on the web site of the Cradle of Aviation Museum says she is the only person ever to do this. In her memoir (Smith 1981, pp. 3–19) she accounts herself the only person to do this in a land plane, but indicates that it was reasonably routine for seaplanes to go under the bridges.
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 3–19
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 16
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 19
- ISBN 0-393-05767-4, p. 282.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 78
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 79
- ^ "Girl Flier, 17, Sets Woman's Duration Mark; Remains in the Air 13 Hours 17 Minutes", The New York Times, January 31, 1929. p. 1.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 80
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 80–86; the "incompetence and arrogance" quotation is on p. 84.
- ^ "Miss Trout Sets Mark With 17-Hour Flight; Recaptures Record Miss Smith Took From Her", The New York Times, February 12, 1929. p. 1.
- ^ Douglas Martin, "Evelyn Trout, Record-Setting Flier, Dies at 97" (obituary), The New York Times, February 2, 2003, p. 142.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 180 et. seq.; p. 194 for this being the first establishment of such a record.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 181
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 190, 194
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 180 et. seq.. The "concentration of a test flight" quotation is on p. 182.
- ^ Smith 1981, p. 183
- ^ Smith 1981, pp. 192–194
- ^ Smith 1981 passim.
- ^ "Miss Smith in Faint Sets Altitude Mark; Girl Flier Loses Consciousness When More Than 30,000 Feet Up, a Record for Women. Her Motor Fails at Peak; Fuel Line Frozen, Plane Drops Mile Before She Recovers to Make Difficult Landing. The New York Times, March 11, 1930. p. 1.
- ^ Elinor Smith, Off the Record, Air & Space/Smithsonian, Vol. 6, No. 6 (February/March 1992), pp. 24-26
- ^ Doyle, Jack (March 29, 2010). Wheaties & Sport, 1930s. The Pop History Dig.
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Bibliography
- Smith, Elinor (1981). Aviatrix. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-110372-0.
Further reading
- Brown, Tami Lewis. Soar, Elinor! Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010. ISBN 978-0-374-37115-9
- Crouch, Tom D. Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age. W.W. Norton, 2004. ISBN 0-393-05767-4
- Goldstein, Donald M. and Katherine V. Dillon. Amelia: A Life of the Aviation Legend. Potomac Books, 1999. ISBN 1-57488-199-X
- Hevesi, Dennis (March 27, 2010). "Elinor Smith, One of the Youngest Pioneers of Aviation, Is Dead at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2017.