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GRANDMOTHER OF AVIATION
By Virginia Funk
[image on left]

Taking off from a potato field in Hicksville, Long Island, Elinor Smith made her first airplane flight in 1917 in a biplane first piloted by Louis Gaubert, one of France's legendary fliers. She was six years old.

In May 1927, at 15, she soloed from Roosevelt Field in her father's Waco biplane two weeks before Charles Lindbergh made his epic flight to Paris.

Three months later she set the light-plane altitude record of 11,874 feet over the same field, but it remained unofficial because of her age. 

At 16, in 1928, Elinor Smith became the world's youngest licensed pilot. She had qualified one year earlier. Her license was signed by Orville Wright, Chairman of Federation Aeronautique Internationale.

Two months later, she flew under all four East River bridges in New York City in one flight, the only pilot to ever accomplish this feat. The stunt and her other record-setting flights are explained in detail in her exciting book, Aviatrix, which was published recently. All of her accomplishments were, of course, when navigation equipment and other flight aids were primitive. 

By 19, Smith set women's world aviation records in endurance, altitude, speed and refueling. She was chosen best women pilot in the United States in 1930 with then-Major Jimmy Doolittle named best male pilot. Their competition? Amelia Earhart and Lindbergh!

Smith's life has been one of innumerable firsts, the likes of which one person rarely encounters. She flew more than 158 models of aircraft, 30 as the first woman line test pilot for both Fairchild Aviation and Bellanca Corporation. 

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[image caption]
in 1929, Elinor Smith, 18, beams happily after setting women's world solo endurance record of 26 1/2 hours, a feat still unmatched.

Modern Maturity August-September 1982