Viewing page 13 of 68

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

just glorious up there in the air. . . I wish I could go right up again."
   The Detroit women who flew during those few days did not think of airplanes merely as vehicles for entertainment, either.  They could visualize a future where flying in an airplane would be commonplace.  Mrs. William H. Burtenshaw, one of Coffyn's [[handwritten]] * [[/handwritten]] passengers, was quoted as saying, "I want to go now, while it's still wonderful and exciting.  It's only a question of a few years, isn't it, when we'll be talking in the morning about flying over to Paris for the evening's opera and then even this will have ceased being thrilling and awe-inspiring."
   Coffyn apparently realized after several days of taking up women as passengers that he need not fly sedately around the golf course to keep from frightening them.  When Mary Manning Wadsworth, an actress of the day, flew with Coffyn, he engaged in a race with a passing motorist, much to Mrs. Wadsworth's delight.
   By the time the meet ended, the newspaper was calling the women who flew "superwomen" for their courage in making airplane flights.  A reporter also predicted, correctly, that "Ought women to aviate?" would become a social issue of the day.

[[handwritten]] 1) "Detroit Free Press," June 20, 1911 [[handwritten]]