Katherine Stinson | |
|---|---|
 Stinsonc. 1910 | |
| Born | (1891-02-14)February 14, 1891 Fort Payne, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | July 8, 1977(1977-07-08) (aged 86) Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Resting place | Santa Fe National Cemetery |
| Known for | Aviator, stunt, and exhibition flying |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | |
| Aviation career | |
| First flight | January 1911 |
| Famous flights |
|
| Flight license | July 24, 1912 Pine Bluff, AR |
Katherine Stinson (February 14, 1891 – July 8, 1977) was an American aviation pioneer who, in 1912, became the fourth woman in the United States to earn theFAI pilot certificate. She set flying records for aerobatic maneuvers, distance, and endurance. She was the first female pilot employed by theU.S. Postal Service and the first civilian pilot to fly the mail in Canada. She was also one of the first pilots to ever fly at night and the first female pilot to fly in Canada, Japan, and China.[1][2][3] She also was the first woman to fly over London, England.
Katherine was the first of the pioneering Stinson siblings of early aviation, who included younger sisterMarjorie, and their younger brothersEddie and Jack.[1][2][3][4]
Stinson was born on February 14, 1891, atFort Payne, Alabama to Edward Anderson Sr. and Emma Beavers Stinson.[5] Edward Sr. left the family, leaving Emma alone to raise Stinson and her younger siblingsEdward Jr.,Marjorie, and John (Jack). Emma moved the family toJackson, Mississippi, where Stinson attended high school.[6] She excelled at music and dreamed of being a concert pianist. After she graduated from high school, the family moved toPine Bluff, Arkansas.[6]
Stinson learned to drive the familyflivver at the age of 14. In 1911, she took her first flight aloft in ahot-air balloon inKansas City.[7] Smitten by the flying bug, Stinson sold her piano to help pay for flying lessons. Stinson went toSt. Louis to take flight lessons fromTony Jannus, who allowed her to fly only as a passenger.[8] She then took flying lessons from the well-known aviatorMax Lillie, a pilot for theWright Brothers, who initially refused to teach her because she was female. However, Stinson was able tosolo theWright Model B, after only four hours of instruction,[9] on July 13, 1912, atCicero Field.[10]
She was the fourth woman in theUnited States to obtain a pilot's certificate, which she earned on July 24, 1912, at the age of 21.[11]
After she received her certificate, Stinson returned to her family inHot Springs, Arkansas. Stinson and her mother, Emma, incorporated the Stinson Aviation Company in April 1913 to "manufacture, sell, rent, and otherwise engage in the aircraft trade." In May, Stinson bought a Wright B from Lillie. In July, she flew atCincinnati's Coney Island Park, and thenColumbus, Indiana in August. She then carried the first airmail at theHelena State Fair, flew at theIllinois State Fair, thenEl Paso,Helena, Arkansas,New Orleans, andBeaumont, Texas. Stinson then received permission to use the airplane sheds atFort Sam Houston. She believed theSan Antonio, Texas area had an ideal flying climate.[6][10]
In 1915, the Stinson family established the Stinson School of Flying, which now is Stinson Municipal Airport. Emma managed the school, Katherine financed it, Eddie worked as a mechanic, and Marjorie flight instructed.[10][9] As the school grew, more planes and instructors were added.
In March 1915, the famous barnstormerLincoln Beachey died in a crash intoSan Francisco Bay, and Stinson acquired the rotary engine from his wrecked plane, rebuilt it, and used it in her plane.[6]
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Stinson began exhibition flying and became known as the "Flying Schoolgirl" and "America's Sweetheart of the Air."[12] On July 18, 1915, atCicero Field inChicago, Illinois, Stinson performed an insideloop (a year afterLydia Zvereva became the first woman aviator to do so[13]), and went on to perform this feat some 500 times without a single accident.[14] She also became one of the first pilots to ever fly at night.[9] Adding to her night flying experience, she flew overLos Angeles with flares attached to the plane and--according to local newspapers--spelled out "CAL," becoming the first nighttimeskywriter.[9] In another publicity stunt on May 6, 1916, Stinson flew her plane in a race withDario Resta, the 1916Indianapolis 500 champion.
In 1917, when the United States enteredWorld War I, and the military had a shortage of pilots, Katherine and fellow female aviatorRuth Law volunteered to fly for the military, but were refused.[15]
In 1917, Stinson made a six-month tour of China and Japan, becoming the first female to fly in Asia.[7][9] The Japanese gave her the name "Air Queen".[9] On December 11, 1917, Stinson flew 610 miles (980 km) fromSan Diego toSan Francisco, setting a new American non-stop distance record.[9]
During exhibition flights inCanada, Stinson became the first civilian to fly the mail in Canada on a flight fromCalgary toEdmonton, Alberta, in 1918.[16]
Until she acquired a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, all of her stunt flying was done in aircraft using the Wright control system, which uses two side-mounted levers for pitch and roll, with top-mounted controls for throttle and yaw.[12] The only exception to this was her Partridge-Keller airplane, owned after the Wright plane but before the Curtiss.
After the U.S. enteredWorld War I in 1917, the government prohibited civilian flying to direct all aviation resources to the Army and Navy for the war effort.[12] This caused the closure of the Stinson School in1917. Stinson was allowed to fly aCurtiss JN-4D "Jenny" and a Curtiss Stinson-Special (a single-seat version of the JN aircraft built to her specifications)[17] for fundraising for theAmerican Red Cross. The fledgling U.S. Postal Air Service was the only non-military flying operation allowed by the government and the only other venue for Stinson to fly. In 1918, Stinson approachedBenjamin Lipsner, superintendent of the Post Office Department airmail operations, about undertaking a long-distance mail service flight from Chicago to New York City as a publicity stunt.[12] She encountered strong headwinds on the flight and flew non-stop fromChicago toBinghamton, New York, where she had to stop for fuel.[18] The airplane flipped over on landing in a field and took several days to repair. Stinson then flew from Binghamton to New York City, completing the mail route.[12]
Unable to find stable aviation work, she applied to Lipsner once again, but this time as a regular mail service pilot. She was hired and assigned to the New York City-Philadelphia route. On her first trip, she followed her instructor, veteran airmail pilot Maurice Newton, down to Philadelphia. He showed her the landmarks, emergency landing fields, and other pertinent tips for the route. The following day he followed her back to New York City to make sure she had the route mastered. The press mistakenly reported this as she had beat her instructor back to New York City in a race. This reporting caused animosity at work, and she quit the mail service after the one round-trip.[12] Stinson then left forParis to be an ambulance driver for theRed Cross duringWWI, ending her aviation career.[12]
The weather and wartime conditions in Europe affected her health, and she came down with influenza and thentuberculosis. Returning from the war, she went to the Loomis Sanitarium in Liberty, NY, and then to the Sunmount Sanitarium in the dry climate of Santa Fe,New Mexico in 1920 to help combat the disease. Stinson's tuberculosis diminished after four years.[9]
In 1927, Stinson married ex-army aviator Miguel Antonio Otero Jr., a district judge and son of the former territorial governor of New Mexico.[19] They raised four adopted children, the offspring of her brother Jack.[12]
Stinson worked as an award winning architect[12] and Pueblo-style home designer for years inSanta Fe, New Mexico.[19] She designed a house for Hazel Hyde, founder of The Town School in Manhattan, NYC, who retired to Santa Fe; one for Dorothy McKibbin, "gatekeeper" of the Los Alamos atomic bomb project; one for Dr. Frank Mera, director of Sunmount Sanitarium; and for a few other notable Southwesterners. She also rented a home toMary Colter, the famed Southwestern architect. One of the houses she designed belonged to anthropologistSallie Wagner in the 1970s.[20]
After a long period as an invalid, she died in Santa Fe in1977 at the age of 86.[21][22] She and her husband Miguel are buried inSanta Fe National Cemetery.[9]
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Katherine Stinson, who left Chicago this morning with Government mail for New York, landed two miles north of this city at 6:50 this evening.
