Louise McPhetridge Thaden

Louise McPhetridge Thaden (born Nov. 12, 1905, Bentonville, Ark., U.S.—died Nov. 9, 1979, High Point, N.C.) was an American aviator, holder of several speed and endurance records in the early years of competitive flying. Possibly the best-known female pilot of the 1930s after Amelia Earhart, she used her fame as a competitor to promote the status of women in aviation and to draw more women into the profession.

(Read Orville Wright’s 1929 biography of his brother, Wilbur.)

Louise McPhetridge was born the elder daughter of a salesman and a homemaker and grew up in rural surroundings. She attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville intermittently from 1921 to 1926 before going to work in Wichita, Kan. There she was introduced to airplane designer Walter H. Beech and went to work for his Travel Air Manufacturing Company. In 1928 Beech transferred McPhetridge to his distributor in Oakland, Calif., where she learned to fly. Over the next two years she earned her pilot’s certificate from the National Aeronautic Association as well as a Transport Pilot rating from the U.S. Department of Commerce (the fourth woman to do so). In 1928 she married Herbert von Thaden, a former military pilot and aeronautics engineer. A son and a daughter were born of their lifelong marriage.

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For her job, Thaden flew Travel Air demonstration planes around the West Coast and elsewhere, but she also entered serious competitions. From December 1928 to April 1929, flying from Oakland’s airport, Thaden in quick succession established the first women’s altitude record (20,260 feet, or 6,175 metres) and set new records for women’s solo endurance (22 hours 3 minutes 28 seconds) and women’s speed (156 miles, or 251 km, per hour). On Aug. 18–26, 1929, flying a customized Travel Air Speedwing, she won the first National Women’s Air Derby, a cross-country race from Santa Monica, Calif., to Cleveland, Ohio, that was held in conjunction with the prestigious National Air Races in Cleveland, from which women were excluded. Following this competition, several of the contestants decided to form an association of licensed women pilots, which was officially incorporated in 1931 as The Ninety-Nines, after the number of charter members. Thaden served as the organization’s first secretary and Earhart as its first president; The Ninety-Nines exists to this day. On Sept. 4, 1936, Thaden and fellow aviator Blanche Noyes, flying a Beechcraft Staggerwing, a large and powerful biplane designed for business travelers, became the first women to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, flown that year from New York City to Los Angeles. The two collected the winners’ prize money as well as a consolation prize intended to go to the first woman, who was expected to cross the finish line behind the winning man.

When she was not competing, Thaden continued to work as a product representative for aircraft manufacturers (including her longtime patron, Walter Beech). She also served in various official capacities for flight organizations such as The Ninety-Nines and the National Aeronautic Association. In 1934–36 she worked with fellow pilot Phoebe Omlie for the Bureau of Air Commerce in its program to mark rooftops and prominent landmarks with navigation signs for aircraft. After World War II she worked for her husband’s engineering company (becoming sole owner after his death in 1969) and for the Civil Air Patrol (from which she retired in 1970 with the rank of lieutenant colonel). In 1959–61 she served on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. Thaden’s memoir, High, Wide, and Frightened, was published in 1938 (reissued 2004).