Laura Ingalls (aviator)
Laura Houghtaling Ingalls | |
---|---|
Nazi sympathizer | |
Parent(s) | Francis Abbott Ingalls I Martha Houghtaling |
Relatives | Francis Abbott Ingalls II |
Laura Houghtaling Ingalls (December 14, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was an American pilot who won the Harmon Trophy.
She was arrested in December 1941 and convicted of failing to register as a paid Nazi agent, and served 20 months in prison. The Nazis had encouraged her to speak at events of the America First Committee.[1]
Early life
Ingalls was born in
My mother, partly through ill health, was extremely emotional and without adequate self-discipline; spoiled by her parents who thought she was wonderful and could do anything. Brilliant along certain lines, she possessed the trait I find most exciting in the American character, viz. the ability to hurdle difficulties and achieve the reputedly impossible. I grew up under such influence.
She attended private schools in New York, and also studied in Vienna and Paris. She studied nursing at the Presbyterian Hospital Training School in New York. Quitting nursing, she danced in ballet and vaudeville.[1]
Personal life
Laura Houghtaling Ingalls was a distant cousin of Little House on the Prairie's Laura Ingalls Wilder, and became a friend of her daughter Rose Wilder Lane.[2]
Aviation
She learned aviation in 1928 at
Her best-known flights were made in
Aviation records
- Longest solo flight by a woman (17,000 miles)
- First solo flight by a woman from North to South America
- First solo flight around South America by man or woman
- First complete flight by a land plane around South America by a man or woman
- First American woman to fly the Andes solo
Timeline
- 1893 – born December 14 in Brooklyn, New York
- 1928 – first solo flight, at Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island (December 23)
- 1929 – enrolled in Universal Flying School at Lambert–St. Louis Fieldin June
- 1929 – obtained Limited Commercial license from Department of Commerce in September
- 1930 – obtained Transport license from Department of Commerce (April 12)
- 1930 – the only female in graduating class of Universal Flying School Transport course (score of 98/100)
- 1930 – established women's loop record in a D.H. Gipsy Moth over Lambert–St. Louis Field – 344 loops; previous record was 47 loops (May 4)
- 1930 – broke previous loop record at Muskogee, Oklahoma – 980 loops in 3:40 hr, in her D.H. Gipsy Moth (May 26)
- 1930 – established world barrel-roll record for men and women of 714 rolls over Lambert–St. Louis Field in her D.H. Gipsy Moth (August 13)
- 1930 – won third place Chicago, Illinoiswinning $800 in August and September
- 1930 – established first women's transcontinental round trip record between Roosevelt Field and Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California. Time 30:25 to California; 25:20 on return flight to Roosevelt Field. Airplane: D.H. Gipsy Moth (October)
- 1934 – received 3rd Class Radio Telephone license with authority to use code (call letters KHTJQ) (January)
- 1934 – departed (February 28)
- 1934 – departed Cristóbal, Panama(March 8)
- 1934 – departed Santiago, Chile
- 1934 – crossed the (March 21)
- 1934 – arrived in Trinidad and Tobago (April 17)
- 1934 – arrived in Miami, Florida(April 22)
- 1934 – arrived Floyd Bennett Field, New York completing 17,000 mile flight (April 25)
Activities as a Nazi agent
In late September 1939, Ingalls flew over
Ingalls gave speeches for the Committee in which she derided America's "lousy democracy" and gave
Ingalls was charged with failing to register with the government as a paid Nazi agent, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. She had been receiving approximately $300 a month from von Gienanth.[7] During the trial it came out that von Gienanth had encouraged Ingalls's participation in the America First Committee, a significant embarrassment for that organization.[1]
The
Prison had not altered her views, however. A few months after her release, she stated her opinion of the Normandy landings:
This whole invasion is a power lust, blood drunk orgy in a war which is unholy and for which the U.S. will be called to terrible accounting... They [the Nazis] fight the common enemy. They fight for independence of Europe—independence from the Jews. Bravo![6]
After her probation ended, in July 1944 Ingalls was arrested at the Mexican border. Her suitcase contained seditious materials, including notes she had made of Japanese and German
She died on January 10, 1967, in Burbank, California, aged 73.
References
- ^ New York Times. December 18, 1941. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
Laura Ingalls, woman flier, was arraigned before a United States Commissioner today, charged with being a paid agent of the German Government and as such failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. ...
- ^ The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harper Collins, 2016, pp. 195, 222
- ^ Same article under Timeline, also "L-100 TriStar, The Lockheed Story, Ingells, Douglas, Aero Pub, p. 30
- ISSN 0018-2370.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-39589-0. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-39589-0. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7432-4514-2.
- ^ CONVICTED: Laura Ingalls (NY Times, p. 2E, 15 February 1942)
- ^ "Laura H. Ingalls - Just One Flight Too Many!". Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
Further reading
- New York Times; May 4, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Makes 344 Loops in a Row; New York Flier Sets Record at St. Louis. St. Louis, May 3, 1930 (AP) Miss Laura Ingalls, 25 years old, of New York City, established a new women's record for consecutive loops in an airplane, executing 344 loops ... "
- New York Times; August 14, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Rolls Plane 714 Times"
- New York Times; October 6, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Flying To Coast For Record; Aviatrix Seeking Women's Continental Mark Reaches St. Louis After Take-Off Here"
- New York Times; October 16, 1942 "No Laura Ingalls Parole. Board Rejects Plea In Case Of German Agent"
External links
- Hargrave: Laura Ingalls
- Ingalls family memorial at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2009)