Page 24 - August 2015 Volume 9, Number 8

Walter’s “Wonder Woman”
Louise Thaden’s dream of flying became a reality in 1927 when Walter H. Beech set her on a path to earning her wings and a reputation as one of America’s foremost female flyers
“ Iwant you to meet Warren, our new Pacific Coast distributor. Warren has agreed to take you out to San
Francisco. Your salary won’t be high, but he will teach you this aviation business and see that you learn to fly.” Walter Beech’s words struck a young and vivacious Louise McPhetridge like a thunderclap. She stared in disbelief, first at Beech, and then at Warren. The 21 year-old girl from Bentonville, Arkansas, could hardly believe what she had heard. It took nearly an hour for the two men to convince her that they were serious: Her dream of flying was about to become a reality.1
Warren was visiting the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, Kansas, to take delivery of a Model “B” biplane (later redesignated as the Type 2000) for his new distributorship. On April 2, 1927, she and Warren departed Travel Air Field, located east of the city and headed west. Less than two years later, Louise had not only become a competent pilot, but she was placed in charge of D.C. Warren’s satellite office in
Walter H. Beech was already an accom- plished aviator in 1925 when this candid photograph was captured of the former Tennessee farm boy standing by a Travel Air Model “A” biplane. He saw potential in a young girl named Louise Thaden, who often hung around the Travel Air factory and yearned to fly. Beech was solely responsible for launching her career in
a fledgling industry dominated almost entirely by men. (MARY LYNN OLIVER)
During 1927 and 1928, Louise Thaden not only became a competent pilot and sales person at D.C. Warren’s Travel Air dealership in California, she also began to set records for altitude, speed and endurance for women flyers. She cuts a dashing figure in this photograph, posed beside a Travel Air Type 3000 biplane. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
by Edward H. Phillips
In December 1928, Thaden set an altitude record of 20,200 feet flying a Travel Air Type 3000 powered by a Wright/ Hispano-Suiza V-8 engine. After landing, Thaden watched anxiously as an official of the National Aeronautics Association checks the sealed barograph.
(EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
Oakland. It was a lot of responsibility for a young woman, particularly one who had recently married an aeronautical engineer named Herbert von Thaden.
Louise was anxious to make her mark in aviation, and one of the best ways to do that was to set a record for female pilots. In 1928 she had a lot of competition: Ruth Nichols, Viola Gentry, Bobbi Trout, Elinor Smith, Amelia Earhart and Florence “Pancho” Barnes, just to name a few. By that time, the number of women aviators was growing, but the “records” they were setting for altitude, speed and endurance were not officially sanctioned or recognized by the Federation Aeronautique International (FAI) until December 3, 1928, when Gentry attempted to break the existing record for endurance held by male pilots (60 hours). Although she was forced to land because of bad weather, Viola had managed to stay in the air over Long Island, New York, for slightly more than eight hours.
AUGUST 2015