Viewing page 6 of 21

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

sent her to Hammondsport for instruction. There she encountered considerable opposition to the idea of a woman learning to fly, but since Fanciulli had sent her Curtiss proceeded to give her lessons. He started her on the usual grass cutting method, using a limited-power school machine to get accustomed to the controls, and after a short practice on this she accidentally made her first straightaway hop on August 18th, 1910 at the Keuka Lake front field of the Curtiss Company, but did not consider this a real flight. She did make a complete solo flight on September 2d, 1910, to become the first woman in the United States to fly an aeroplane, and the first and only woman to be trained by Glenn Curtiss.

Miss Scott then joined the Curtiss Exhibition Team and it is reported that her public flying debut was made at a flying meet in Chicago, held October 1st to 9th, conducted by the Chicago Post. Also flying at that event were Curtiss, Ely, Willard, McCurdy and Augustus Post. Reportedly she made some short flights with a Curtiss machine there that week. From Chicago she, with another Curtiss aviator, Bud Mars, flew at Fort Wayne, Indiana, October 22d and 23rd.

Apparently due to much family persuasion Miss Scott gave up flying temporarily that Fall, but in July, 1911 she started flying again at Mineola, Long Island, with Thomas S. Baldwin on the celebrated Baldwin Red Devil Biplane with Hall-Scott engine and was soon making short cross-country flights about the vicinity. While there she contracted for a plane built by Howard Dietz with a 50 H.P. Kirkham engine.  As soon as it was completed she started flying it, in addition to her work with Baldwin. On October 27th Miss Scott flew as a passenger with Phil Page from Nassau Boulevard to the fall meeting of the United Hunts Racing Association in a Burgess-Wright biplane.  In late November Miss Scott also assisted in the making of some movies with Captain Baldwin at Mineola, and continued active flying about the Long Island flying fields.  

2