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Ruth Law Comes Back to Town; Wistfully Recalls Old Flying Days

[[image]] Washington Herald Staff Photo

AIR QUEEN OF YESTERYEAR--America's darling of the air--long before the exploits of Amelia Earhart Putnam were heard of--Mrs. Charles Oliver, of Beverly Hills, Calif. is back in Washington, the scene of one of her greatest thrills--the piloting of a plane at a speed of 90 miles an hour up Pennsylvania Avenue. The name Mrs. Charles Oliver may mean little to the youth of today, but the air follower of 20 years ago recalls it as Ruth Law, daredevil forerunner of the aviatrix of today. Here she is with her husband.

Former Aviatrix Would Like To Try One Of Modern Planes

"...Thundering only 30 feet above the ground, she soared up Pennsylvania Avenue, skimming street cars while. traveling through the atmosphere at the incredible speed of 90 miles per hour...it was the most daring airplane flight that has ever been. witnessed in Washington..." 

It was to those ecstatic heights that rhetoric of newspaper reporters soared in 1918 when Ruth Law, then. 25 years old, and the foremost feminine airplane pilot in the United States, flew an antiquated Curtiss "pusher" up Pennsylvania Avenue in a flying exhibition to aid the sale of Liberty Bonds. 

And yesterday Ruth Law--who is really Mrs. Charles Oliver, of Beverley Hills [Beverly Hills], Calif.--arrived at the Capitol Park Hotel for a bried visit to Washington. 

She looks like a school teacher now--42 years old, she has red hair; wears middle-aged clothes and looks at you through steel-rimmed glasses.

The Wright Brothers wouldn't sell her a plane in 1912, the year she learned to fly... "women pilots? don't be silly. No woman will ever be able to fly!" That's what Wilbur Wright said when Ruth Law tried to buy one of the early Wright planes.

FINALLY GOT PLANE.

Glenn Curtiss, the only other builder of commercial airplanes in the world, finally sold her a ship. He was pretty doleful about it, though. Ruth Law was a woman and women simply couldn't fly--that was Curtiss' prophecy.

And it was with that old 100-horsepower Curtiss "pusher" that she broke half a dozen flying records. between 1912 and 1918. In November of 1916 she flew from Chicago to New York--only one other pilot had ever done that--and he was a man. She made the flight in nine hours and, setting a precedent that has been followed by all women endurance fliers ever since, blithely asked for face powder when she landed in New York.
During the World War she asked that she be commissioned a lieutenant in the Air Corps and sent over seas to fly with Army aviators. She never got the commission because Army officials were horrified at the idea, so they put her to work selling Liberty bonds. 

LAST FLIGHT IN 1922

The last time Ruth Law took up an airplane was in 1922.   And then she "retired by request." It was her husband's request. He had a nervous breakdown worrying about her flying. 

Since then she hasn't done much flying. She'd like to. though--if it wasn't "for hubby." 

Here's what she said last night:
"Fly? Certainly I'd like to fly again. Maybe I will some day. I'm not very old now and I'm sure I could still learn to fly one of the modern ships. I don't care what Wilbur Wright said, I think every woman should learn. to fly--it's good for them. Only, they will have to train their husbands not to have nervous breakdowns. And. anyhow, flying's not dangerous any ore. When you flew some of the old-time ships I flew then you had to be a little skillful, I guess, but now--why any woman can fly the modern ships if she can drive an automobile."