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Pioneer Foresees Female Airline Pilots By Nadine Ullmann The first lady of flying, Mrs. Blanche Stuart Scott of Rochester, N.Y., foresees the day when women pilots will be sharing the airways with men. The first American woman to fly an airplane and the first to drive an automobile from coast to coast, Mrs. Scott will receive a plaque commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of flying lessons with Glenn Curtiss at a banquet of the Antique Airplane Association tomorrow in the Hotel Edison. "I think that in about 50 years there will be a great number of women pilots. It will happen at the same time as we have a woman president because that will break down the prejudices against women in all fields. I'd hate to be a man 100 years from now if women keep progressing the way they have for the past 150 years." Mrs. Scott recalls her own history-making venture, "My solo debut was on Sept. 2, 1910, in Hammondsport, N.Y. Pilots couldn't go from town to town in those days. First they would go up and down the field, then they would hop and if they were lucky, they would get off the ground and circle around. My plane, a one-engine 'Golzbug' was made of bamboo, pine, piano wire and canvas. I could see through the wing because it only had one seat. I could never bring anyone with me." She looks back on her pioneering venture with modesty. "The fact that I was the first woman to fly didn't impress me," she said. "I was more interested in what I was doing than in fame. I was 18 years old at the time and loved excitement. I wasn't afraid of flying even though it was so new. I later had three accidents and almost every bone in my body has been mended but I always had an angel with me," she laughed. Because of a streak of temperament, she became the first woman to make a long-distance flight, "One day I got mad at something so I just took off and went from Mineola to Central Islip. The plane flew at 60 miles per hour at an altitude of 400 to 500 feet. I didn't know I had done anything spectacular until I got back." [[image]] FEMININE FANCY took a teenager high above Mineola in her Baldwin Red Devil one summer day in 1911. Today Mrs. Blanche Sewart Scott of Rochester, N.Y., is credited as the first American woman to fly. To commemorate her pioneering feats, she is being honored by the Antique Airplane Association. Flying in its infancy was more of an entertainment than a mode of transportation. There was no insurance and no licenses were necessary. Mrs. Scott joined the Glenn Curtiss Flyers Exhibition Team which consisted of seven men and herself. They toured the country giving three to five shows per week. "There were only 75 to 100 pilots at the time and it was a tremendous novelty," she said. "We preformed at state fairs, rodeos and circuses. The crowds flocked to watch because no one had ever seen such a thing. "Although we were entertainers we knew that flying was more than a passing fad. LaGuardia Airport is one dream that I've lived to see come true," Mrs. Scott said with a smile. One thing the fathers of flying didn't predict was its military potential, Mrs. Scott remarked pensively. "If they had thought that planes would ever be used for war, they would have destroyed them and quit. The early inventors such as Mr. Curtiss and the Wright brothers were religious, God-fearing men." Mrs. Scott gave up flying after World War I and never returned to it. There just wasn't any money to be made in it. "I had to work, though, so I bought a motion picture studio, the Hal Benedict Company, with a partner and we provided sets for films. Then in the 1930s I went to Hollywood and wrote scripts for comedies." After this the restless Mrs. Scott transferred to radio commentating in Los Angeles, Rochester and finally, Hornell, N.Y., where she did a woman's show. In 1953 she traveled around the country as consultant for the Air Force Museum at the Wright-Patterson Base in Dayton, Ohio. "I have always kept in touch with flying," she commented, "but I make myself stay away from the fields because it would be too tempting. There would be so much to learn now. "If I were a young girl now, I don't think I'd fly unless I could be a pioneer in space. I just don't want to do things that have already been done." Mrs. Scott said. Boston Gets Jolt From Blue-French Models By Betty Ommerman [[image]] S'NO FOOLING for Mme. Elsa Manusardi, Swedish born model of Paris fashions. She arrived at N.Y. airport yesterday to greet sister models but sudden snow squall sent the girls flying to Boston. Yesterday afternoon's briefly blinding snow squall shut out all incoming planes to N.Y. International Airport and almost closed down all plans for a model greeting when the Paris to New York jet flight landed in Boston. Sixteen French mannequins, a technical advisor, and a wardrobe mistress were aboard the re-routed flight——bound for a color television first showing of the latest in fashion, "Paris a la mode" (Monday, 10 to 11 PM, NBC). Luckily a seventeenth model, Mme. Else Manusardi, arrived a week earlier with Baroness Monique de Nervo of Chambre Syndicale la Couture Parisienne (Paris' equivalent of the New York Couture group). Here to assist in any last minutes changes, she arrived at the airport to greet here "sister" models and, instead, found herself the one to be greeted——while her fellow countrymen continued their travels by bus. Mme. Manusardi, a Swedish-born, blue-eyed blonde, represents the House of Craven. Tall and slender, she announced that she was "one meter, 69 centimeters tall (about 5-ft.-7) and wore a size 42". She appeared momentarily puzzled at the gasp of astonishment around her. "That is size 42 by European measurement," she explained in her soft, halting voice. "I am not sure what size I take in America." (It as quickly estimated by others nearby that she was between a size 8 and 10.) Just 24, she has been modeling for six years. "I had not realized it was so long," she said in a surprised tone." I came to Paris from my native Stockholm to learn French. I met Madame Carven at a party and she asked me to model for her. I thought that working would be the best way to learn the language and that being a model would be the most interesting type of work I could do." Since Mme. Manusardi also enjoys traveling, her choice was a wise one. She has shown Carven fashions throughout Europe, and has visited Hong Kong, Bombay, and cities in Australia. "Although being a model may seem to be an ideal way to live, it is not really as glamorous as many women think," she said. "But it is a nice atmosphere (to be in) and if I leave it for a couple months, I feel lost. Yet, it can be very tiring, too." The "tiring" part of her job is especially noticeable twice yearly——when the spring and fall collections are being readied. Then it is breathe, eat and sleep clothes from dawn until almost moon-down. "Though it has its drawbacks, it is still one of the most sought-after careers in Paris," Mme. Manusardi added. "But it takes more than a beautiful figure to be a model. You have to have a feeling of showing and wearing clothes. The clothes have to be a part of you." The truth of that statement will be proved (or disproved) Monday evening when the models will parade before the TV cameras after four days of morning-to-night rehearsals, with only Saturday morning off for shopping and sightseeing. Fifteen models——one for each of the designers to take part——will show a daytime, cocktail and evening style from their particular fashion house. The other two models will remain on "stand-by" as alternates. The next day, the entire "troupe" will travel to Philadelphia, where they will put on another evening fashion show in the Commercial Museum. Wednesday morning they will board a bus for N.Y. International Airport and a jet plane back in Paris. Mme. Manusardi will then be able to say she has been to the United States. But will she truthfully be able to say that she has seen it? Friday, February 26, 1960 39
Transcription Notes:
'Golzbug' - term not found on internet, but 'Gold Bug' appears as informal nickname of plane
"Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of Flight"
By C. R. Roseberry
https://books.google.com/books?id=vGA_XKpuVNsC&pg=PA469&lpg=PA469&dq=GOLDBUG+early+plane&source=bl&ots=7OHxqKm0Tl&sig=ACfU3U2Kjlvi_wRLcz0dQT5ZraWvS7RcWg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjh4ZylvLPnAhUCrp4KHV86DoIQ6AEwHXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=GOLDBUG%20early%20plane&f=false
