Showing posts with label Blanche Stuart Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blanche Stuart Scott. Show all posts

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: Blanche Stuart Scott

This woman came to my attention via my dear friend, Amanda Watson. Knowing my passion for aviatrixes, she found an envelope postmarked 1980 at a flea market. On it is a picture of this woman, the wooden airplane she flew in, and a stamp with her likeness.




She was the Tomboy of the Air and the *first American woman to fly solo.*

You can read the photo for yourself, but if not, it says she had her first flying lesson in 1910. She was part of a group of barnstormers and did air acrobatics at air shows and fairs. She hoped first and foremost that she could help open new aviation opportunities for women. She later became a filmwriter, radio commentator, and station manager, as well as a special consultant to the USAF.



From digging deeper on the Internet, I also discovered:

-She was the first (or second. I'm finding conflicting reports) woman to drive an automobile across the United States.
-She was instructed by Glenn Curtiss himself, the only woman he taught.
-She was the first woman to fly long distance and the first woman to fly in a jet, with Charles Yeager, the man himself.
-*Her first solo flight is not official as it was a 40-foot  hop in the air, but her reputation reached amazing heights.*
-She did "death dives" from 4,000 feet.
-She was a test pilot too! For Glenn L. Martin.
-She got behind the wheel of an automobile at 13!

 Much more data can be found on this page: http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/scott.html
Of the pages I browsed, I found this one to be the neatest and easiest to follow. Photo below is also on their site.
scott_2_350.jpg
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/scott.html

What I like about her: She set out to do something and she did it. This wasn't an easy feat back then. Heck, it still isn't.

'Til next Saturday, ladies, remember: think it, achieve it, do it. Don't let naysayers stand in your way and don't forget STRONG IS SEXY.