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March 23, 2010 -
Elinor Smith (Sullivan), aviation pioneer and record-setting aviatrix,
died Friday, March 19, 2010, in
Smith is perhaps
best remembered as the only person to have ever flown under all four of
Her daring stunt
made her an instant celebrity, but the achievement she personally valued
most was being voted "Best Woman Pilot in
In January 1929, she set the women's solo
endurance record at 13-1/2 hours; just three months later, she reset
it with a 26-1/2-hour flight that nearly cost her her life. In 1930,
she set the women's altitude record at 27,419 feet; in 1931, she
reset it at 32,576 feet. In 1934, she became the first woman
featured on the back of a Wheaties box. In 1982, she published her
autobiography Aviatrix.
The Great Depression scrubbed her hopes of a non-stop solo trans-Atlantic flight in a Lockheed Vega, though she continued for several years to be a prominent stunt flyer, performing numerous fund-raisers for the homeless and needy.
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Patrick Sullivan
died in 1956, and Elinor Smith returned to the air. Her membership in
the Air Force Association allowed her to pilot the T-33 Shooting Star
Jet Trainer and to take up C-119s for paratroop maneuvers. In March
2000, at the Smith is survived by four children, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. |
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