Ruth Elder
| Ruth Elder | |
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Ruth Elder
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| Born |
Ruth Elder September 8, 1902 Anniston, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | October 9, 1977 (aged 75) San Francisco |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Early aviation records, including first woman to attempt transatlantic flight; film star |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Website |
dmairfield |
Ruth Elder (1902-1977) was an aviation pioneer and actress. She carried private pilot certificate P675, and was known as the "Miss America of Aviation." She was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines.
In 1927 she took off from New York in the airplane American Girl, with her co-pilot, George Haldeman, in an attempt to become the first woman to duplicate Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic crossing to Paris. Mechanical problems caused them to ditch the plane 360 miles from land, but they established a new over-water endurance flight record of 2,623 miles. It was also at the time the longest flight ever made by a woman. She and George were honored with a ticker-tape parade upon their return.
After her flight, she embarked on a series of lucrative speaking engagements and was given a movie contract. She starred in Moran of the Marines (1928) and The Winged Horseman (1929).
In 1929 she entered the first Women's Air Derby, flying in her Swallow, NC8730, and placed fifth.
She married six times, lastly to Ralph P. King, to whom she was married for 21 years and who outlived her. She had suffered emphysema for several years before she died. She had one son, William Trent Gillespie (1940-2008), from her marriage to movie effects pioneer A. Arnold Gillespie.
She worked as an executive secretary in the aviation industry in her later career, hired by Howard Hughes who had initially forgotten who she was.
In 2013 an inspirational juvenile book was published about her, written by Julie Cummins and illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen, titled, Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America's Heart. The title character of the Ruth Darrow Flying Stories book series is said be based on Ruth Elder. In 2016, her story was told in novelized version in Crossing the Horizon by Laurie Notaro.
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Wikipedia