Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: Mabel Cody

Ya'll have heard of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show...but did you know he had a niece? Her name was Mabel and she was a stunt woman! Considering she was hanging off airplanes in 1921, I'd say she was one of the first.

This photo is from Florida State Archives.
She's shaking a pilot's hand. The webpage
contains some great pictures, the only ones
I could find. Please go there.
I cannot take credit for it, but 
this should be shared.

She was a part of Mabel Cody's Flying Circus. One time, she stood in a moving automobile going 70 mph and grabbed a ladder hanging from a passing airplane. The ladder broke and she fell to the sand, sustaining a dislocated shoulder and a broken forearm.  But she got back up and even attended the premiere of the video.

She wing walked, parchuted, and changed planes midair. She was also pretty darn feisty judging by the quotes I dug up. I first came across her name in a history book, but it told me very little so I came online to find out more. There's a good page dedicated to her here and I have taken these quotes from it. 

"Every time I sit down to sew or to write a letter, some timid member of my sex wants to tell me what she thinks about me risking my own neck!

"For heaven's sake! It's my neck, and I guess I'll risk it any time I feel like taking a chance," she told the Times-Union.

And here's a video. How cool is this?

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.

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.

Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: The Legend of Pancho Barnes

She was a famous aviatrix with a foul mouth, a fondness for cigars, a taste for booze, and a passion for flying. Pancho was even a test pilot at Edwards AFB and a Hollywood stunt flier. You name it, this girl did it.

She was born Florence, however, and thought her mother trained her to be a lady, it didn't take, as they say in the documentary I watched.

Cool, random things I learned from watching this:
-Her grandfather made hot air balloons and took photographs  from them during the Civil War...right over the battle scene.
-She called the most important man in Air Force at 3am one day to demand a fellow visiting her bar get a raise.
-She had an arranged marriage of sorts to a minister. All the women loved her and she felt he tolerated her.
-In 1927, after the death of her mother, she ran away and worked on a banana boat. She looked like a man. "I took a bandanna, tied it in a knot, and stuffed it in my jeans. I had the best looking balls on the boat."
-Instead of going to hubby's Sunday sermons upon her return, she was taking flying lessons. He'd preach. She'd fly. She would even dive bomb at his church. ROFL
-The dept of commerce believed women should not fly whilst on the rag as they were irrational then. Um...
-She paid 13k for Travel Air's mystery ship. In 1929, that was a LOT of dough.
-She organized a women's flying medical corps.
-When Howard Hughes refused to pay more than 25 bucks to his stunt fliers, Pancho organized a union.


The documentary continues to tell us about her Happy Bottom Riding Club, her fourth marriage, her adventures with the test pilots of Edwards AFB, the battle with the government over her land, the accusations, the fire that ruined everything, and so on. She even had breast cancer.

It was the end of an exciting time with her death in 1975.

Favorite quote from the doc:
"I am not a pretty girl. I can apologize for that the rest of my life or I can forget about it and live the kind of life I want to."

This is available on netflix.