Ruth Rowland Nichols | |
|---|---|
 Ruth Nichols. AtBrazilian National Archives | |
| Born | (1901-02-23)February 23, 1901 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 25, 1960(1960-09-25) (aged 59) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery |
| Education | Wellesley College (1924) |
| Parent(s) | Erickson Norman Nichols Edith Corlis Haines |
Ruth Rowland Nichols (February 23, 1901 – September 25, 1960) was an Americanaviation pioneer. She is the only woman yet to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance for a female pilot.
Nichols was born inNew York City to Erickson Norman Nichols and Edith Corlis Haines. Her father was a member of theNew York Stock Exchange, and had served withTeddy Roosevelt'sRough Riders (officially known as The 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry). Ruth was sent tothe Masters School, a private preparatory school for young women.[citation needed] On her graduation from high school in 1919, her father's graduation present to her was an airplane ride withEddie Stinson Jr., which spurred her interest in becoming a pilot. After her graduation from the Masters School, she attendedWellesley College, studiedpre medical, and graduated in 1924.[citation needed]
While a student atWellesley College, Nichols secretly took flying lessons. Shortly after graduation, she received herpilot's license, and became the first woman in the world to obtain ahydroplane license. She first achieved public fame in January 1928, as co-pilot for Harry Rogers, who had been her flying instructor, on the first non-stop flight from New York toMiami, Florida. Due to hersocialite upbringing and aristocratic family background, Nichols became known in the press as the "Flying Debutante", a name she hated.[1] Nichols was then hired as a sales manager forFairchild Aviation Corporation. In 1929, she was a founding member, withAmelia Earhart and others, of theNinety-Nines, an organization of licensed women pilots. In August 1929, she and Earhart were among 20 competitors in theWomen's Air Derby (also known as the "Powder Puff Derby"), the first official women-only air race in the United States. They departed from Santa Monica, California, on 18 August for Cleveland, Ohio. Nichols crashed,Louise Thaden won, while Earhart finished third in the heavy class.
During the 1930s, while working for Fairchild and other aviation companies, Nichols made several record-setting flights, most of them in aLockheed Electra, the New Cincinnati, on open loan from millionaire radio industrialist Powel Crosley Jr.[2] In December 1930, she beatCharles Lindbergh's record time for a cross-country flight, completing the trip in 13 hours, 21 minutes.[2] In March, 1931, she set the women's world altitude record of 28,743 feet (8760.9 m). In April 1931 in Detroit, she set the women's world speed record of 210.7 miles per hour (339.1 km/h).[2] In June, 1931, she attempted to become the first woman to fly solo across theAtlantic Ocean, but crashed inNew Brunswick[3] and was severely injured, breaking at least two vertebrae in her back.[2] Following her recovery, in October, 1931, she set the women's distance record with a flight fromOakland, California, toLouisville, Kentucky, 1,977 miles (3182 km).
On 14 February 1932, Nichols set a new world altitude record of 19,928 feet for diesel-powered aircraft atFloyd Bennett Field, NY while flying in aLockheed Vega. On 3 November, an attempt at breaking Earhart's transcontinental record failed when Nichols' aircraft skidded off the runway at Floyd Bennett Field while taxiing, went into a ground loop, and was badly damaged as the port wing dug in, although the pilot escaped injury.[4] On 29 December, Nichols became the first woman pilot of a commercialpassenger airline, flying forNew York and New England Airways. In 1935, Nichols joined the British-basedWomen's Engineering Society, at the time the only organisation in the world for women engineers and pilots.[5]
On 21 October 1935, Nichols was critically injured in a crash during a private flight inTroy, New York. The flight was to be an airborne wedding for two couples overNew York City, but the plane, aCurtiss Condor, registration NC725K, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing the pilot. Nichols received a broken left wrist, ankle and nose, contusions, burns and "possible internal injuries", according to newspaper accounts of the crash.[6] She was unable to fly for nearly a year after. When she returned to flying, Nichols went to work for the Emergency Peace Campaign, aQuaker organization that sought to promote peaceful resolution to international conflicts then brewing. In 1939, she headedRelief Wings, a civilian air service that performed emergency relief flights and assisted theCivil Air Patrol duringWorld War II. Nichols would eventually attain the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol.
Following the war, Nichols became involved in other humanitarian efforts, using her celebrity to bring attention to causes and to raise funds. She organised a mission of support forUNICEF, including piloting a round-the-world tour in 1949. During this tour, on August 14, she joined the crew of aTransocean Air Lines flight carrying 47 Italian immigrants on behalf of theInternational Refugee Organization toCaracas,Venezuela. During the flight, the plane accidentally overflewShannon (a planned stopover) and, despite turning around, was forced to ditch inGalway Bay at 2:40 am the following morning. All but 8 of the 58 on board were rescued.[7] In the 1950s, she served as director of women's activities forSave the Children, director of the women's division of theUnited Hospital Fund, and field director for the National Nephrosis Foundation.
In 1958, after lobbying theUnited States Air Force for permission, she co-piloted aTF-102A Delta Dagger and reached 1,000 miles per hour (1600 km/h) and an altitude of 51,000 feet (15 545 m), setting new women's speed and altitude records at age fifty-seven.
In 1959, asNASA'sMercury program was preparing for missions to the moon, Nichols underwent the same isolation, centrifuge, and weightlessness tests that had been devised for the astronaut candidates. The tests were conducted at theWright Air Development Center inDayton, Ohio, by USAF Brigadier GeneralDon Flickinger. Flickinger, and his mentorRandy Lovelace (the bioastronautics pioneer who performed the medical selection of the Mercury Seven), had a far-reaching interest in research on the suitability of women as astronauts. However, no official records of the Air Research and Development Command, the experimental wing of the Air Force trying to get America into space, survive to document how or why this came about.
Although she didn't pass all the Phase 1 tests that her female peers did (theMercury 13), Nichols performed well enough on the tests and urged Air Force scientists to include women in their spaceflight plans. The scientists at Wright "thought of this with horror, and they said under no circumstances," according to an oral historian to whom Nichols relayed the story. The test results were leaked to the media which, according to Flickinger, "turned the tide" against Air Force sponsorship of research into female astronaut candidates.[8] Ultimately onlyJerrie Cobb was able to complete all three phases of tests beforeNASA officially pulled the plug on the program.
Suffering from severedepression, Nichols died of an overdose ofbarbiturates at her home inNew York City on September 25, 1960. Her death was ruled a suicide.[9][10] Nichols was interred atWoodlawn Cemetery in theBronx, New York.[11]
During the course of her career, Nichols flew every type of aircraft developed, including thedirigible,glider,autogyro,seaplanes,biplanes,triplanes, transport aircraft, and a supersonic jet. Nichols was posthumously inducted into theNational Aviation Hall of Fame in 1992.[12] A propeller from her 1930sLockheed Vega is displayed in theNational Air and Space Museum's Golden Age of Flight gallery.
Ruth Rowland Nichols, 59 year-old woman flier who was found dead in her apartment here Sept. 25, committed suicide, Dr.Milton Helpern, the Chief Medical Examiner ...
Ruth Rowland Nichols world - famous flier was found dead in her apartment yesterday. Miss Nichols, who was lived alone. Police said the cause of death would ...
