Lyceum & Book Club - Week 34 - March 17,1947 - 99s Show To Be Historic Event

Article from March 17,1947

Headline: 99s Show To Be Historic Event

The 99s First All Woman Air Show of the world to be staged at Peter O. Knight Airport, Davis Islands, by courtesy of the operators on the airport, will be an event for the records of history in aviation, was announced today by Gladys Pennington, General Chairman of the Air Show Committee.

This First All Woman Air Show in the history of aviation, sponsored by the Florida Chapter of the 99s, will only be a perpetuation of the many historic records set by the 99s in years gone by, stated Chairman Pennington. The 99s, international organization of licensed women pilots, began with its first National President, Amelia Earhart, twice voted the world’s preeminent woman pilot.

A glance into the records of some of these charter members, of which there were only 99, will show the calibre of the membership, Pennington declared.

Louise Thayden - flying 21 years, won First Woman’s Air Derby in 1929, and with Francess Harrell, set a world’s refueling endurance record of 196 hours in 1932 under the management of Viola Gentry, another charter member, and was the first woman to win the Transcontinental Bendix Race. Blanche Noyes, flying 20 years, now a CAA Earmarking Specialist; her records in aviation too numerous to mention, was co-pilot with Louise Hayden in the Bendix Race. Ruth Nichols, who needs no introduction to anyone, was the first Chairman of the Amelia Earhart Scholarship Fund. Toddy Kenyon, also a founding member, won the U.S. Amateur Sportsman Championship against a field of 39 contestants, twenty-nine of whom were men, in 1933, and won the Kimball Cup Award in 1935 for the advancement of aviation. Jacqueline Cochrane, a past president of the 99s, has recorded most of her several thousand hours during record breaking flights, which have earned her the title of outstanding woman pilot in the world.

With one exception, the Harmon Trophy for the outstanding woman pilot in America has been awarded to 99s. Ruth Nichols was the first national recipient, in 1931, when she simultaneously held the world’s records for altitude, speed, and distance. Amelia Earhart received the national and international awards in 1932, because of her record-breaking 16,000 mile solo flight around South America.