Aviation Pioneer. Born Elinor Regina Patricia Ward, she was an aviatrix once known as the "Flying Flapper". She began her flying career in September 1927, at age 16, when she became the youngest U.S. Government-licensed pilot on record. At 17 she was the only person to have ever flown under all four of New York's East River suspension bridges. In January 1929 she set the women's solo endurance record at 13-1/2 hours, reset the record three months later with a 26-1/2-hour flight and set a woman's world speed record of 190.8 miles per hour in June 1929. She set the women's altitude record at 27,419 feet in 1930 and reset the record at 32,576 feet in 1931. She was voted "Best Woman Pilot in America" by her peers in October 1930 and became the first woman featured on the back of a Wheatie's box in 1934. In March 2000, she became the oldest pilot to succeed in a simulated shuttle landing, piloting NASA's Space Shuttle vertical motion simulator. In April 2001, at the age of 89, she piloted her last flight in an experimental C33 Raytheon AGATE, Beech Bonanza at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. She died of natural causes at age 98.
Aviation Pioneer. Born Elinor Regina Patricia Ward, she was an aviatrix once known as the "Flying Flapper". She began her flying career in September 1927, at age 16, when she became the youngest U.S. Government-licensed pilot on record. At 17 she was the only person to have ever flown under all four of New York's East River suspension bridges. In January 1929 she set the women's solo endurance record at 13-1/2 hours, reset the record three months later with a 26-1/2-hour flight and set a woman's world speed record of 190.8 miles per hour in June 1929. She set the women's altitude record at 27,419 feet in 1930 and reset the record at 32,576 feet in 1931. She was voted "Best Woman Pilot in America" by her peers in October 1930 and became the first woman featured on the back of a Wheatie's box in 1934. In March 2000, she became the oldest pilot to succeed in a simulated shuttle landing, piloting NASA's Space Shuttle vertical motion simulator. In April 2001, at the age of 89, she piloted her last flight in an experimental C33 Raytheon AGATE, Beech Bonanza at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. She died of natural causes at age 98.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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