Elinor Smith was born on August 17, 1911 in Freeport.
In 1928, Elinor Smith, then 16, earned national
recognition as the youngest pilot to receive a license from the Federal
Aviation Administration. Orville Wright signed her license. On a dare that year, she flew a Waco 10 under
all four of New York City's East River bridges; according to the Cradle of
Aviation Museum, she is the only person ever to do so. That same year, Smith set a light plane altitude record of
11,889 feet, the first of many records she was to set during her career. In
1929 alone she set four world records.
In 1930, Elinor Smith was voted, "best female
pilot" by her peers, a group that included Amelia Earhart. That same year,
Smith set the women’s solo endurance record spending thirteen hours, sixteen
minutes flying an open cockpit Brunner Winkle Bird over Roosevelt Field. In 1932, she set a straight-course speed
record for women by zooming 229 mph.
She would become the first female test pilot for
Fairchild Aviation Corp. and Bellanca Aircraft Corp., and as the first woman
executive pilot for Irvin Air Chute Co., she demonstrated parachute drops.
There were endorsements for motor oil and goggles, even a job with NBC Radio to
cover air races
In October 1931, Smith attempting to stand in the
cockpit while descending into Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field fell from the
plane and was knocked unconscious. In September 1933, Smith nearly caused a
collision after a sharp turn over Governors Island put her in the path of two
planes. So, at 29, Smith retired to raise a family. In 1934, she became the first woman to appear
on a Wheaties cereal box.
In 2000, she was still breaking records at NASA's Ames
Research Center with an all-woman crew. She took on NASA's Space Shuttle
vertical motion simulator, and became the oldest pilot to succeed in a
simulated shuttle landing. Her final cockpit time was spent in April, 2001,
when, at 89, she flew a four-passenger plane while visiting NASA's Langley
Research Center.
Smith died at the age of 98 in 2010.
Sources:
“Elinor Smith.” Cradle of Aviation Museum,
https://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/history/women-in-aviation/elinor_smith.html
Kussin, Zachary. “How This Badass Pilot Paved the Way
for Female Aviators.” New York Post, New York Post, 9 Oct. 2018,
https://nypost.com/2018/10/08/how-this-badass-pilot-paved-the-way-for-female-aviators
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