Lucky and Unlucky Ladies

There had been several attempts by women to become the first to cross the Atlantic in an heavier than air craft during 1927 and 1928 despite the odds being stacked against them. In August Princess Loewenstein-Wertheim commissioned Hinchliffe's flying chum Fred Minchin and Leslie Hamilton to fly a Fokker monoplane from the UK towards Ottowa but the flight, like so many others, went missing. American aviator Ruth Elder had been training for months with her instructor George Haldeman before taking off in October 1927. Without a private income to support her Ruth had been involved in a great deal of publicity to raise sponsorship, aided by the fact that she was an attractive young woman. Her pre flight antics, glamorous photographs and some of the statements she made meant that her ability as a pilot was undermined but she had been very serious about flying. When she was given a contract from one of the major Hollywood studios after the attempt many believed the whole thing had been an elaborate stunt to get her into the movies. But there were surely easier ways of gaining star status than risking death over the Atlantic. The pair were extremely lucky to be rescued by the crew of a Dutch tanker after being forced into the sea south of the Azores. On the islands Ruth met Austrian actress Lilli Dillenz who had been with a crew of three airmen attempting their own crossing but taking a southern route in stages. They'd been marooned on the Azores after terrible weather conditions brought an end to their flight. 

George Haldeman and Ruth Elder

At the time of Ruth's flight she'd been in a deadly rivalry with businesswoman Frances Grayson who was also making the 'hop' in a twin engine Sikorsky amphibian aircraft called The Dawn. Due to their sponsor being Danish the crew were attempting to fly to Copenhagen. They had  made two attempts driven by Grayson's fear that Ruth Elder would beat her to the title of first woman, but each time the plane had been so heavily weighed down with fuel that they'd failed to lift off. A third effort saw them travel further but then run into engine trouble. The pilot Bill Stulz had ended up in a dramatic argument with navigator Brice Goldsborough and Mrs Grayson who wished to continue with the flight but Stulz turned round, landing safely back in Maine but then walking away from the project. Having replaced her pilot and adding a mechanic to the crew the new team took off again from Roosevelt Field on Christmas Eve 1927 heading for Newfoundland. Determined that her new pilot wouldn't mutiny again she reportedly took a small revolver with her in her handbag. The plane and crew were never seen again. 

Bill Stulz had been wise to leave the employ of Mrs Grayson as he played a crucial role in Amelia Earhart's famous flight the following year - he piloted the plane. Although Amelia would later establish her reputation as a pilot in her own solo flight across the Atlantic that first title came when she was a passenger on board The Friendship and, in her own words, played no active part in the flight.