The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races . Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby , the name by which the race is most commonly known. Nineteen pilots took off from Clover Field , Santa Monica, California , on August 18, 1929 (another left the next day). Marvel Crosson died in a crash apparently caused by carbon monoxide poisoning , but fifteen completed the race in Cleveland , Ohio, nine days later.
24-459: The first real race for female pilots was the Women's Air Derby during the 1929 National Air Races and Aeronautical Exposition. Air-race promoter Cliff Henderson was the founder of the first Women's Air Derby, which he patterned after the men's transcontinental air races. (Ironically, Henderson would ban women from competing in the 1934 Bendix Trophy and National Air Races after a crash which claimed
48-571: A Beechcraft Debonair. Thirty-three teams completed the race in June 2008, flying a course from Bozeman, Montana (BZN, Gallatin Field Airport ) to Mansfield, Massachusetts (1B9, Mansfield Municipal Airport ). Intermediate route stops were Miles City, Montana , Aberdeen, South Dakota , Mason City, Iowa , Decatur, Illinois , Frankfort, Kentucky , Franklin, Pennsylvania , and Saratoga Springs, New York . Thirty-six planes participated in
72-514: A car that drove onto the runway as she was trying to land, wrecking her airplane, in Pecos, Texas , on August 22. Ruth Nichols also crashed. Claire Fahy's wing wires were eaten through, possibly sabotaged with acid; she withdrew from the race. An estimated 18,000 people gathered in Cleveland, Ohio, to greet the pilots at the end of the race. Louise Thaden finished the race first on August 26 and won
96-524: A distance of 2,158 nm. This year's theme was "100 years of licensed women pilots." The race was won by Terry Carbonell of Alva, Florida , Ellen Herr of Fort Myers, and Laura Ying Gao of Spring Hill, Florida . June 23–26, 2009 from Denver (APA, Centennial Airport ) to Atlantic, Iowa (AIO, Atlantic Municipal Airport ), a distance of 2359.0 nm/2714.7 sm. The race was won by pilots Kelly Burris of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Erin Recke of Seattle in
120-521: A distance of 2,269 nautical miles, concluding on June 21 at KFNL Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland, CO. Among the contenders, one prominent team commands attention: Team Mach .182, headed by Captain Logan Nissen and Co-Pilot Kelly Hansen. Get ready to witness exhilarating feats of aviation prowess as pilots navigate their way through challenging terrain and unpredictable weather to reach
144-443: A distance of 2330.2 nm/2681.5 sm. June 17–21, 2011 from Iowa City, Iowa (IOW, Iowa City Municipal Airport ) to Mobile, Alabama (BFM, Mobile Downtown Airport ), a distance of 2365.4 nm/2722.0 sm. The race was won by Leah Hetzel and Sarah Morris flying a Cirrus SR-20. June 22–25, 2010 from Fort Myers, Florida (RSW, Southwest Florida International Airport ) to Frederick, Maryland (FDK, Frederick Municipal Airport ),
168-434: A tribute to Henderson's role as an early developer of the city. Air Race Classic The Air Race Classic is an annual transcontinental air race for female pilots. Route lengths are approximately 2,400 statute miles (3,900 km). All flights are conducted in day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions. Each aircraft is handicapped for speed and engine power. The goal is to have the actual ground speed be as far over
192-587: Is given to a living individual or group whose vision, leadership, or skill has made a significant and lasting contribution to the promotion and advancement of aviation or space activity. Notable recipients of the Cliff Henderson Trophy include Wesley L. McDonald , Walter J. Boyne , Thomas H. Miller , and Eugene Peyton Deatrick . In 1978, a bust of Henderson was completed and dedicated in Palm Desert. The bust, by Henry McCann , serves as
216-691: The 101st Aero Squadron. After the war, Henderson settled in Los Angeles and promoted aviation, serving as chairman of ground arrangements for the Army's Around the World Flight in 1924 from Clover Field. Becoming Director of Aviation of Los Angeles in 1928, he served as the first manager of the Los Angeles airport system. In that same year Henderson became manager of the National Air Races, promoting aviation with competition trophies, including
240-685: The 1940s, envisioning a modern utopia growing from the scrub. He built the Shadow Mountain Club in 1948. With its glamorous figure-eight swimming pool and high-dive competitions, the club drew celebrities, presidents, and future residents. Born in Iowa, Henderson graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1917. He served in the 35th Ambulance Unit, in France during World War I, then transferred to
264-1047: The Thompson, Bendix and Grieve Trophies. He retired from the National Air Races in 1939. In World War II, Henderson served in the Army Air Corps, rising to the rank of colonel. He was involved in planning the Burma Hump air route, and also served as military governor of Dakar in North Africa. Henderson was a member of the Quiet Birdmen , a male-only aviators' social club. Henderson was married twice. His first wife, Helen Christine Avery, died in 1929. Henderson married actress Marian Marsh in 1960. He died on March 26, 1984, in Rancho Mirage near Palm Desert. The National Aeronautic Association presents an annual Cliff Henderson Award for Achievement. The award
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#1732781042306288-595: The U.S. Air Force Military Commissioner of Dakar. With his brother Phillip, Henderson built the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in 1935. The landmark Streamline Moderne convention center, designed by Los Angeles architects Wurdeman & Becket , was the region's primary indoor venue with 100,000 square feet of exhibition space and seating for up to 6,000. It closed after the 1972 opening of the much larger Los Angeles Convention Center . Henderson and his brother Randall founded Palm Desert , California in
312-571: The Women's National Air Derby by Francis Walton and the 1939 film adaptation , starring Kay Francis . The book The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race , written by Gene Nora Jessen , was published in 2002. The 2010 documentary Breaking through the Clouds: The First Women's National Air Derby covers the race from inception through conclusion, includes interviews with some surviving relatives of pilots, and offers short biographies of some of
336-560: The airfield, but repairs were made quickly, and she resumed flying. Later, "when Amelia damaged her propeller on the first leg of the journey, the race was held up until she could get it repaired," much to the annoyance of Pancho Barnes, who received no such consideration when she later crashed in Pecos, Texas. Marvel Crosson crashed in the Gila River Valley and was killed, apparently the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning . There
360-541: The finish line. The 2019 race will take off at June 18, 2019, from Jackson, Tennessee, for a 2,538-mile international competition that ends June 21 in Welland, Ontario. The 2014 race will occur June 16–19, 2014 with ten stops in 4 days flying from Concord, California to New Cumberland, Pennsylvania in the quest for the fastest time. The 2012 race will run from Lake Havasu City, Arizona (HII, Lake Havasu City Airport ) to Batavia, Ohio (I69, Clermont County Airport ),
384-615: The first women's air race across America , was written for a young adult audience. Cliff Henderson Clifford " Cliff " Henderson (1895–1984) was the managing director of the National Air Races from 1928 through 1939. Described as "the Barnum of aviation," he obtained sponsors for two of the most well-known air races of the period, the Bendix transcontinental and the Thompson closed-course classics. The Thompson Trophy
408-773: The handicapped speed as possible. This women's-only air race started in 1929 as the Women's Air Derby by pilots including Amelia Earhart at the time when female pilots were banned from competing against men. Following the discontinuation of the Powder Puff Derby in 1977, the Air Race Classic was established that same year by a new organization to take its place. The 2024 race will commence on June 18, departing from KMDH Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale, IL. This thrilling international competition covers
432-455: The heavy class in a time of 20 hours, 19 minutes and 4 seconds. Phoebe Omlie won the light class in 25 hours, 12 minutes and 47.5 seconds. Ten pilots in the heavy class finished in the following order: Four women finished the race in the light class in the following order: Bobbi Trout finished the race, but was untimed. The race was the subject of the 1935 novel Women in the Wind: A Novel of
456-579: The life of pilot Florence Klingensmith in 1933.) Forty pilots qualified, having at least 100 hours of solo flight, which included a minimum 25 hours of cross-country flying (these were the same rules that applied to men competing in the National Air Races). The twenty competitors, eighteen of whom were from the United States, were: The aircraft also had to have horsepower "appropriate for a woman." Opal Kunz's 300-horsepower Travel Air
480-421: The pilots often overnighted for refueling, repairs, media attention and dinner banquets. To keep all competing aircraft safely separated as they climbed to altitude, they were lined up in rows at the start of the race and took off at one-minute intervals, the lighter aircraft first. National Aeronautic Association official Joe Nikrent was the official timekeeper. Earhart had a stuck starter and had to return to
504-625: The women. The 2015 documentary Beyond The Powder: The Legacy of the First Women’s Cross Country Air Race (directed by Kara White) examined the 1929 race, and the legacy of the race today, as women still run the race annually, now called the Air Race Classic . The 2018 book by Keith O'Brien, Fly girls : how five daring women defied all odds and made aviation history , also covered the race and its place in history. The 2019 book by Steve Sheinkin, Born to Fly:
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#1732781042306528-488: Was a public outcry demanding the race be canceled, but the pilots got together and decided the most fitting tribute would be to finish the derby. Blanche Noyes had to put out a fire that erupted in mid-air over Pecos, but continued on. (In the 2010 documentary Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Women's National Air Derby , Noyes, a non-smoker, explained that she found a cigarette butt in her baggage compartment.) Margaret Perry caught typhoid fever . Pancho Barnes crashed into
552-599: Was deemed to be "too fast for a woman to fly" (even though she owned and flew it), so she had to find a less powerful aircraft to race. The pilots, fourteen in the heavy plane class (with engines from 510 to 875 cubic in.) and six in the lighter class (275 to 510 cubic in.), took off from Santa Monica, California . Stops en route to Cleveland included San Bernardino, California ; Yuma, Arizona ; Phoenix, Arizona ; Douglas, Arizona ; El Paso, Texas ; Pecos, Texas ; Midland, Texas ; Abilene, Texas ; Fort Worth, Texas ; St. Louis, Missouri ; and Cincinnati, Ohio . At each stop,
576-550: Was first awarded in 1929. The 1929 National Air Races included the first official women-only event, the Women's Air Derby , a cross-country race from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1931, he convinced businessman Vincent Bendix to sponsor the Bendix Trophy Race, a transcontinental speed dash open to men and women. Henderson was awarded the L'Ordre de 'Etoile Noire de Benin for his service in World War II as
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