Page 32 - August 2015 Volume 9, Number 8

major checkpoint, St. Louis, Missouri. Two hours later the mighty Mississippi River slipped away beneath the Beechcraft as it sped toward its first and only fuel stop – Wichita, Kansas. Still 150 miles away from the city, Louise established a shallow, high-speed descent of about 200 feet per minute. Less than an hour later, the airport hove into view, and despite visibility being limited to six miles, Thaden was intimately familiar with the area and had no trouble using landmarks to home-in on the field.
wanted to hear, but Thaden had no intention of obeying Mr. Beech. She had already resolved to fly the remaining distance at 65% power.
What happened next, however, nearly ended the women’s quest to win the Bendix. The Beechcraft was on its takeoff roll when Louise suddenly noticed another airplane to her right, on final approach to land. Without hesitation she chose to continue the takeoff and ignore the other airplane’s right-of-way to land. The two aircraft were very near each other when Louise forced the C17R into the air, threw it into a sharp turn and avoided a collision. As the story goes (perhaps embellished over time but possibly close to the truth), the scary event had been witnessed by Walter Beech. Bristling with rage, he reportedly bit his pipe stem in two, tore his hat to shreds, cussed a blue streak and gave the other pilot a tongue lashing that he would not soon forget.
With gear down and flaps set, the biplane touched
down gently on Kansas turf. Louise quickly taxied to the
designated refueling area where two trucks awaited the
ship’s arrival. There to supervise the refueling process
and check on the ladies and their airplane was none
other than Walter Beech, a ubiquitous pipe clenched
between his teeth. The engine was allowed to rest for
only eight minutes as 170 gallons of avgas were pumped
into the tanks, the oil tank was replenished and Louise
and Blanche washed down sandwiches with bottles of
ice-cold Coca-Cola. Beech calmly enquired what power
setting Louise was using. Reluctantly, she told the truth:
“65% power.” Walter exploded. “What the hell do you
think you’re in, a potato race?” he roared in response,
almost biting his pipe stem in two. “Open this damned
thing up!”6 Reeling from Beech’s verbal broadside, Louise
firmly replied, “Yes, sir!” That was the answer Walter race as the “cow’s tail,” Louise later recalled.7 Despite
After departing Wichita, the C17R climbed upward through a rain-laden sky until it broke out of the clouds into a brilliant sunlit sky. Heading ever westward toward Los Angeles, Blanche estimated the Beechcraft was encountering headwinds of about 60 mph that slowed its progress across the ground to only 150 mph. Both women knew they had to land before 6:00 p.m. or be disqualified, and “With such a slow time, we decided there was no alternative but that we should finish the
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 31