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JULIA CLARKE 
Pioneer Curtis Aviatrix

Julia Clark was born at Bangor, Michigan, December 21, 1880.  Information is lacking as to her early life and education, but in 1911, while working as a secretary in Denver, Colorado she decided she wanted to learn to fly.  

As a result she enrolled as a student in the first early winter class of 1912 at the Curtiss Flying School at North Island, San Diego, California.  In the class were:  Mr. and Mrs. William B. Atwater, S.C Lewis, Rutherford Page, J. B. McCalley and John Kamanski.  Their  instructor was John MacClaskey, and Miss Clarke was the first woman student at the North Island Curtiss School.  She finished her course and obtained F.A.I. License No. 133 on May 19th, 1912, on a Curtiss school machine, becoming the third American woman to obtain a flying license.

Miss Clarke purchased a Curtiss plane and planned to go into exhibition work.  During the spring of 1912 she signed for exhibition engagements with well known aviation flight promoter William Pickins, who was forming a group to be known as the "International Flying Circus". Also in the group were Horace Kearney, Farnum Fish, J. L. Callan and John Kamanski.  The troups started out and flew several engagements, and June 21st and 22d were scheduled to fly at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois.

Arriving from Chicago, Miss Clarke's plane was assembled and ready on June 17th.  That evening while making a test flight she struck a tree on the race track enclosure and had a bad smashup.   She was removed form the wreck badly crushed, and died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, at age 28.  The accident was believed to have been due to inexperience and poor visibility as it was somewhat foggy at the time.  Her remains were sent to Denver for Burial.

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