Ruth Elder – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ruth Elder (Anniston, September 8, 1902 – California, October 9, 1977) was an American pilot and actress, a pioneer of aviation.[1]She had the P675 private pilot diploma and was known as “Miss America of Aviation”.[2]She was a founding member of the “Ninety-Nines” (Association of Women Aviators).[2]​

In October 1927 he took off from New York on the Stinson Detroiter American Girlwith George Haldeman as pilot, in an attempt to become the first woman to make a transatlantic flight. Mechanical problems caused them to abandon the plane 360 ​​miles from the Azores, but they set a new endurance record of 2,623 miles of flight over water.[3]It was also at the time the longest flight ever made by a woman.[1]Rescued by a ship, she and George were greeted with a parade and displays of popularity. On her return she traveled from Lisbon to Madrid, accompanied on the flight by the Spanish journalist Manuel Chaves Nogales, editor of the newspaper The Herald of Madridwho published in various and impressive chronicles the feat, the personality of the aviator, the return trip, the stellar reception in Getafe and the subsequent diplomatic consequences of the event,[4]which earned him the Mariano de Cavia Prize for Journalism in 1928.

Ruth Elder en Moran of the Marines (1928)

After his flight, he undertook a series of business speaking engagements and landed a film contract. starred Moran of the Marines (1928) y The Winged Horseman (1929).[5]​

In 1929 she participated in the first Women’s Air Derby, coming in fifth place flying her Swallow, NC8730.[6]​

He was married six times. She married Walter Camp, Jr., son of the “father” of American football, on August 29, 1929, but filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada, on November 14, 1932.[7]Her last union was a new marriage to Ralph P. King, to whom she was married for 21 years and who survived her.[8]​[9]He had suffered from emphysema for several years before he died.[8]She had a son, William Trent Gillespie (1940-2008), from her marriage to film effects pioneer A. Arnold Gillespie.[10]​

Appears in the May 29, 1952 issue of You Bet Your Life under the name Ruth King, in which she comments that she is writing her autobiography. She later worked as an executive secretary in the aviation industry,[11]hired by Howard Hughes, who initially did not recognize her and had forgotten who she was.[12]​

In 2013, a youth book inspired by her was published titled Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heartwritten by Julie Cummins and illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen.[13]It is said that the main character of the book series Flying Stories by Ruth Darrow is based on Ruth Elder.[14]In 2016, his story was told in a novel version in Crossing the Horizon by Laurie Notaro.[15]​

1. ↑ a b Swopes, Bryan (October 11, 2023). «Ruth Elder | This Day in Aviation» (in American English). Accessed October 6, 2024.
2. ↑ a b «The Ruth Elder Page of the Parks Airport Register Web Site». Parksfield.org. Accessed March 1, 2014.
3. ↑ Lynn M. Homan, et al., Women Who Fly (Pelican Publishing, 2004) p46-47; “RUTH ELDER HOPS OFF!”, Milwaukee SentinelOctober 11, 1927, p1
4. ↑ “This afternoon, the famous aviator Ruth Elder arrived in Madrid on a Junker plane, accompanied by the editor of the Heraldo, the only Spanish journalist who has flown with her from Portugal to Spain.” The Herald of Madrid. October 27, 1927.
5. ↑ Rajtar, Steve (2007). A Guide to Historic Lakeland, Florida. The History Press. ISBN 1596292717.
6. ↑ «The RUTH ELDER Page of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website». Dmairfield.com. Accessed March 1, 2014.
7. ↑ United Press, “Woman Flier Files For Divorce”, The San Bernardino Daily SunSan Bernardino, California, Tuesday 15 November 1932, Volume 39, page 4.
8. ↑ a b «Ruth Elder, aviatrix, dies at 73». The Free Lance-Star. October 10, 1977. Accessed March 14, 2014.
9. ↑ O’Brien, Keith (2018). Fly girls : how five daring women defied all odds and made aviation history. Boston. ISBN 978-1-328-87664-5. OCLC 1014441161.
10. ↑ «Ruth Elder and Arnold Gillespie – U223815ACME – Rights Managed – Stoc…». archive.ph. January 15, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2024.
11. ↑ Associated Press, photo caption dated July 16, 1955: “Twenty-eight years after she achieved world fame as the first woman to attempt a transatlantic flight, Ruth Elder works at a desk in Culver City, Calif., as secretary to an aircraft executive.”
12. ↑ Bair, Cinnamon (Apr 22, 2007). «Ruth Elder Just Wanted To Soar». The Ledger (Lakeland FL) (Gatehouse Media). Consulted on February 13, 2017.
13. ↑ Cummins, Julie (July 23, 2013). Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart: Julie Cummins, Malene R. Laugesen: 9781596435094: Amazon.com: Books. ISBN 978-1596435094.
14. ↑ «Ruth Darrow Flying Stories».
15. ↑ Crossing the Horizon (in English). October 4, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4516-5940-5. Accessed October 6, 2024.

• Audio file de John H. Lienhard en The Engines of Our Ingenuity
• 1927 Pathé newsreel footage: