She also broke the women's solo endurance record. Daughter of vaudeville performer Tom Smith. Last name was originally Ward. Daughter became Elinor Smith when he changed his name. The first - and only - pilot to fly under the Queensboro, the Williamsburg, the Manhattan, and the Brooklyn Bridges. The only female pilot ever featured on a Wheaties cereal box, in At the age of 16, she became the youngest American to earn a pilot's license. She is survived by her son, Patrick Sullivan, and daughters, Patricia Sullivan; Pamela Sullivan; and Kathleen Sullivan Worden; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In , she was the first woman to appear on the Wheaties cereal box. In My earliest memory was at dinner with Dad using a knife to show us how the controls of a plane worked.
I remember so vividly my first time aloft that I can still hear the wind swing in the wires as we glided down. Aug When conjuring images of pilots flying during the s and s, the names that most easily leap to mind are Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. Earhart may be the most widely known aviatrix today, but in the early years of aviation, there were many women pushing the boundaries of aeronautics. Elinor Smith was one of these pioneers.
Elinor Smith was born on August 17, , and lived a long and fascinating life. Over the course of her 98 years, she set multiple flying records and was voted Best Female Pilot in the country by her peers. One of the most famous aviators of her day, Smith was a test pilot, the first female Executive Pilot at 18 , the youngest pilot ever to earn a US Commerce Department transport license, an aviation commentator for NBC, a writer and editor , and the first woman pictured on a Wheaties cereal box Elinor made her first solo flight at Charles Lindbergh gave her words of encouragement just before taking off.
These Fox Movietone News outtakes capture the aftermath of the feat. It is not surprising that she seems groggy and out of sorts in this clip. Not only had she been flying for more than 13 hours, she was also so cold and stiff she needed assistance to exit the plane.
Elinor Smith sets her first endurance record, Before this endeavor, no one was aware that Smith had never performed a night landing. Her initial plan was to stay up until morning and land in daylight, but the extreme cold forced her down.
The first attempt at the record nearly ended in disaster around the hour mark. During refueling near Catalina Island, sudden turbulence wrested the hose from Trout's hands, covering her in airplane fuel, while at the other end of the hose Reinhart was left bleeding from cuts. Both planes made it successfully back to Metropolitan Airport, and no one was seriously hurt. A series of additional attempts lasted between 10 and 18 hours; the weak link each time was keeping the Pigeon's engine running.
Finally, in late November , with the rainy season approaching, enough of the right factors fell into place to allow them to set a meaningful record, albeit a more modest one than they hoped for.
The Sunbeam flew better than usual; the Pigeon's Liberty engine made it through 36 hours, although when it did fail it was dramatic, and forced the refueling craft into an emergency landing with its hose trailing. In March she added almost 1 mile 1. Her articulate performance in an NBC broadcast interview after that flight won her a position as a broadcaster covering the world of aviation, including live broadcasts from air shows and interviews with other prominent aviators.
In May , still before her 19th birthday, she became the youngest pilot ever granted a Transport License by the U. Department of Commerce. Her altitude of 32, feet 9, m on the second flight gave her back the women's record, and demonstrated the over-the-weather capability of the Bellanca, but fell just short of the overall world record.
The first flight nearly ended in calamity. At 26, feet 7, m the engine died, and as she was trying to restart it, she lost consciousness unbeknownst to her, the lead-encased oxygen bottle that she was wearing around her neck had cracked, allowing its content to leak out. The fuel line had probably frozen, and after she lost consciousness the now-powerless airplane went into a steep dive.
Smith regained consciousness and began a cautious pullout at about 6, feet 1, m , and managed to guide the plane to an open spot in a housing development, nosing it over during the landing. For the second attempt ten days later, six upper wing ribs were replaced, the bent propeller was straightened, and another engine was installed since the company was not sure why the first engine had quit.
She ascended to 34, feet indicated on her altimeter. However, the barograph cylinder on her recording instrument had stuck at 28, feet, destroying hope of an official world's record. 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. In , Smith became the third person—and first woman—to be pictured on a Wheaties box.
She kept flying for a while after their marriage, but once she had a child she retired from flying and spent over 20 years as a suburban housewife, ultimately bearing and raising four children. Patrick Sullivan died in , and Elinor Smith returned to the air. Her membership in the Air Force Association allowed her to pilot the Lockheed T jet trainer and to take up Cs for paratroop maneuvers.
Biography Lists News Also Viewed. Elinor Smith. The basics. The details from wikipedia. Aviation career Early flying experience In , at the age of six, along with her brother Joe, she took her first plane ride in a Farman pusher that took off from a potato patch near Hicksville on Long Island.
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