Blanche Stuart Scott
From Women Aviators
Blanche Stuart Scott April 8, 1885 – January 12, 1970), also known as Betty Scott, was the first American woman aviator.
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Early life
Blanche was born in Rochester, New York. Her parents were Belle and John Scott. Her father was a businessman who manufactured and sold patent medicine.
Blanche early became an enthusiast of the automobile, in particular after her father purchased one of the new models. In 1900 the family, still in Rochester, lived at 116 Weld Avenue.
Automobile adventure
In 1910, Blanche became the second woman, after Alice Huyler Ramsey, to drive a car across the United States, and the first to drive westward from New York City to San Francisco, California. The trip was sponsored by the Willys-Overland Company and the car was named the "Lady Overland".
Blanche and her passenger, a woman reporter named Gertrude Buffington Phillips, left New York on May 16, 1910, and reached San Francisco on July 23, 1910. The New York Times wrote on May 17, 1910:
Miss Scott, with Miss Phillips as only companion, starts on long trip with the object of demonstrating the possibility of a woman driving a motor car across the country and making all the necessary repairs en route. Miss Blanche Stuart Scott yesterday started in an Overland automobile on a transcontinental journey which will end in San Francisco.
Aviation Achievements
Jerome Fanciulli and Glenn Curtiss (aiplane designers and pilots) agreed to provide Blanche with flying lessons in Hammondsport, New York. She was the only woman to receive instruction directly from Curtiss - but he had no intention of letting her actually fly. He fitted a limiter on the throttle of her fixed-wing aircraft to prevent it gaining enough speed to become airborne, while she practiced taxiing on her own.
On September 6, either the limiter moved accidently (or she removed it) or a gust of wind lifted the biplane and she flew to an altitude of forty feet before executing a gentle landing.
Herr first flight took place between September 2-12, 1910, but there is no verifiable evidence for an exact date so the Early Birds of Aviation certified her achievement as occurring on the averaged date of September 6. Some U.S. institutions, such as the Smithsonian, prefer to give the earliest possible date of September 2. Her flight was short and possibly unintentional but Scott is credited by the Early Birds of Aviation as the first woman to pilot and solo in an airplane in the United States, although Bessica Raiche's flight on September 16 was accredited as first by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale at the time.
Thereafter, Blanche became a professional pilot (although she never applied for a license).
On October 24, 1910 she made her debut as a member of the Curtiss exhibition team at an air meet in Fort Wayne, Indiana, thus becoming the first woman to fly at a public event in America.
Her exhibition flying earned her the nickname "Tomboy of the Air". She became an accomplished stunt pilot known for flying upside down and performing "death dives", diving from an altitude of 4000 feet and suddenly pulling up only 200 feet from the ground.
In 1911 she became the first woman in America to fly long distance when she flew 60 miles non-stop from Mineola, New York. In 1912, she contracted to fly for Glenn Luther Martin and became the first female test pilot when she flew Martin prototypes before the final blueprints for the aircraft had been made.
In 1913 she joined the Ward exhibition team. She retired from flying in 1916 because she was disgusted by the public's interest in air crashes, as well as an aviation industry which allowed no opportunity for women to become mechanics or engineers.
Scriptwriting and museum work
In the 1930s, Blanche worked as a scriptwriter for various movie studios: RKO, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers in California. She also wrote, produced and performed on radio shows aired in California and Rochester, New York.
On September 6, 1948, she became the first American woman to fly in a jet when she was the passenger in a T-33 Shooting Star piloted by Chuck Yeager.
In 1954 she began working for the National Museum of the United States Air Force, helping to acquire early aviation materials.
Death and afterward
Scott died on Monday, January 12, 1970, at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, New York, at the age 84. She was cremated at Mount Hope Cemetery. However, her remains disappeared from Hedges Memorial Chapel and have not been found since.
On December 30, 1980, the United States Postal Service issued an Airmail stamp commemorating Scott's achievements in aviation.
References
- Trenton Evening Times; Trenton, New Jersey, May 28, 1910;
- New York Times; May 17, 1910, page 11, Woman to drive auto to Frisco: Miss Scott, with Miss Phillips as Only Companion, Starts on Long Trip. With the object of demonstrating the possibility of a woman driving a motor car across the country and making all the necessary repairs en route. Miss Blanche Stuart Scott yesterday started in an Overland automobile on a transcontinental Journey which will end in San Francisco.
- New York Times; February 27, 1960, page 21, Woman Who Began Flying in 1910 Recalls the Day
- New York Times; January 13, 1970, page 45, Blanche Stuart Scott, 84, Dies; Made First Solo Flight in 1910; Feat Followed Cross-Country Drive Later Toured as Daredevil Flier
Bibliography
- Wings and Rockets: The Story of Women in Air and Space. Jeannine Atkins. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2003. (A chapter featuring a dramatisation of some events in Blanche's life.)
