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“RUTH NICHOLS & RUTH ELDER” 1935 PIONEER AVIATRIX FEMALE PILOTS HOME MOVIE 70390 HD

3,256 views · Published 6 September 2014 · 9:52 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: PeriscopeFilm · 2014 · Education

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This astonishing home movie shows two of the leading women aviators (or aviatrixes) of the 1920s and 30s: Ruth Elder and Ruth Nichols. While names like Amelia Earhart and even Florence "Pancho" Barnes are heard more commonly today, back in the era before WWII there were a number of women pilots who gained notoriety.  In 1935, an unknown amateur filmmaker captured two pioneering female aviators of the 1920’s and 1930’s; Ruth Elders and Ruth Nichols. The era brought a wave of positive motion for female fliers. Both women, along with Amelia Earhart, were of 26 founding members of the first organization of licensed female pilots; the 99’s. The pilots decided, during an informal meeting after the first Women’s Air Derby, to organize and support the field of female aviators. 

00:00 Film opens with Ruth Nichols as she meets fans and takes passengers for a flight aboard a Keystone-Leoning Air Yacht. Elders helps to host the inauguration for South Amboy’s air mail postal service. It features shots of a Savoia-Marchetti S.56, Pan Am’s ‘China Clipper’ and prominent male pilot, George Haldeman. Personal shots portray the style of the era. Nichols appears smiling in the pilot’s seat next to George Haldeman 00:70. She was a boundary pusher with a lengthy career. In 1935, she joined the British-based Women’s Engineering Society. She was the only female to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude and distance. She was the first woman to have a hydroplane license. She (and Elders) participated in the first official Women’s Air Derby. She beat Charles Lindbergh’s record time during a cross country flight in 13 hours and 21 minutes. She set a women’s world speed record for 210.7 mph, a distance record for 1,977 miles and an altitude record of 19,928 feet in a diesel powered aircraft. She was the first female pilot of a commercial passenger airline flying for New England Airways. She worked for the Emergency Peace Campaign, headed Relief Wings; a civilian Air Service that assisted the Civil Air Patrol, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol and piloted a round the world tour for UNICEF in 1949. She also worked for the United Hospital Fund, Save the Children and the Nephrosis Foundation. At 57, she set a new women’s speed and altitude record co-piloting the TF-Delta Dagger at 1,000 mph. She underwent testing for NASA’s Mercury program in 1959 and helped to shift the tide for Air Force sponsorship of research into female astronaut candidates. Nichols greets fans 00:12 and heads for a Keystone-Loening Air Yacht 00:19. Mid-flight footage shows passengers 00:57, an unidentified city 01:07 and a glimpse into the 1930’s flying experience. Ground footage watches the air yacht landing 02:00. Back in the air, shots capture densely populated urban areas cut by a river 02:17 and residential houses 02:22. A Savoia-Marchetti S.56; the Italian designed biplane flying boat, flies in 02:59. Ruth Elders appears 03:24. Elders; nicknamed “Miss America of Aviation,” was a blend of socialite celebrity and pilot. She and George Halderman; aboard the “American Girl” plane in 1927 set a over-water endurance flight of 2,623 miles. Elders placed 5th in the Women’s Air Derby. She also stared in 1929’s ‘Moran of the Marines,’ 1928’s ‘Glorifying the American Girl,’ and 1929’s ‘The Winged Horseman.’ She greets fans 03:33. Elders holds a plaque commemorating the inauguration of South Amboy’s first US Airmail 04:07 on a podium in front of the post office. Speakers address the crowd 04:47. Elders walks away from her plane and the shoreline backed by a large crowd 05:23. She returns to the podium 05:51 and addresses the crowds 06:22 holding the plaque again 06:53. She boards a Keystone-Loening Air Yacht for a series of false starts 07:09-07:33. Youth help pull the plane ashore 07:45-08:04. A Pan American Airways Clipper Flying Boat; the Martin M-130 nicknamed the “China Clipper” drives over water 08:09. Crowds watch the plane in flight from the shoreline 08:29 and disperse as it lands 08:37. The group exits the China Clipper 08:41. It ends with the Savoi-Marcheti S. 56 09:37.
 
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

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