Viewing page 175 of 210

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Inspired by the success of their first aircraft, the Raiches built two more, which they sold.  Soon thy formed the French-American Aeroplane Company and formally went into business.  They imported China silk for wing coverings and were the first to substitute piano wire for iron stove wire to save weight.  They believed that lightness was the key to making an aircraft fly better. 

Ms. Raiche designed and helped build her own personal plane, a Curtiss-type biplane, with a 40 hp four-cylinder rebuilt marine[[strikethrough]]motor [[/strikethrough]] engine, having a speed of 35 miles per hour.

Unfortunately, Ms. Raiche's health suffered, and she was forced to stop her aviation activities and move west.  The Raiches settled in California, and after her recovery, her interest in aviation apparently faded.  Still not content with usual "woman's work", however, Ms. Raiche returned to school, received her degree in medicine, and became a practicing physician.

The first American aviatrix to be killed in an airplane crash was Julia Clark.  Ms. Clark was a native of London but had come to the U.S., married, and settled in Denver.  It was while she was living there that she decided to learn to fly.  She enrolled as a student in the Curtiss Flying School at North Island, San Diego, California, the first woman to be taught there.

On May 19, 1912, she received her pilot's license, having flown in a fifteen mile per hour wind at an altitude of about 800 feet.  She purchased a Curtiss airplane and planned to go into exhibition work.

Transcription Notes:
Corrected the word "Curtiss-type" to follow the original document.