snaproll wrote:Was your flight examiner Orville or Wilbur?
Actually, Don, it was Netta Snook. You may recall that she also taught Amelia (and I blame her for that unfortunate Howland Island incident).
All jest aside, I actually did meet Netta, in the '80s (and, yes, she was also in her 80s -- or maybe 90s!) Incredible woman, with some wonderful stories trapped away in her memory. You had to ask the right (leading) questions to unlock them. With some prompting, she told me how she had to dress in men's clothing when she hopped boxcars all the way to Elmira, to learn to fly from Glen Curtiss.
Never met Pancho Barnes, but I do sometimes get to fly her Stinson Station Wagon (I don't own it, but it now lives in my hangar at 1C9).
Nobody left from that generation. I feel honored to have known some of them.
My fictional character Avalon Eden is a composite of two of those actual early day female flight instructors. If you haven't read them, here's a link to some of the stories:
http://avsport.org/publicat