October 27, 2020 Birthday Trips

The Liberty Gazette

October 27, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Happy birthday to us! We have so much in common, even our birthdays are one right after the other. Since we celebrated early with fly-hike-bike trips, venturing west a few times, we figured it was time to point the nose east. 

With the back seats folded down in the Elyminator, we have plenty of room to stack two bike frames, topped by four wheels, with flight bag and backpacks filling the nooks and crannies. Since it’s just us, and the bikes don’t weigh much, we can take on full fuel, which gives us over five hours before we’d use it all up. That’s longer than our sitters can sit anyway. 

The flight to Lafayette, Louisiana in our Grumman Cheetah is slightly over an hour, above the I-10 traffic all the way. I often wonder if the people down there in their cars scowl at us for the sign across the bottom of our plane: “STUCK IN TRAFFIC?” 

Speaking of slower vehicles, we got a chuckle out of the Citation jet that Lafayette’s tower controller sequenced to land ahead of us. Maybe they were on a maintenance flight, as the controller directed me to fly an extended downwind leg while this jet took so long to reach the airport on final. When I finally turned final, the controller gave the obligatory, “Caution: wake turbulence,” and followed up by advising me that the Citation was only traveling at 100 knots. Laughter burst forth from my co-pilot, who blurted, “Can you imagine what that Citation pilot is thinking right now? Thanks for broadcasting my slower-than-a-single-engine-piston-aircraft-speed.” 

Yes, we throttled back for a jet. That’s a first. 

On the ramp, we quickly snapped the wheels on our bikes and pedaled toward historic downtown Lafayette. We considered patronizing a restaurant, but we had brought a picnic lunch, so we rolled on, enjoying the sights through downtown, and ending up on the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus. Girard Park was the perfect place to find a picnic table in the shade and be entertained by frisbee throwers, children, and dogs. 

After swallowing the last morsels, I texted our dear friends who had recently moved to Lafayette from Houston so they could be close to grandchildren when the husband retired from his dental practice. His wife, Rebecca, is a fellow author and has written several excellent children’s books. “The Dry” is one of them. 

They’d weathered Hurricanes Laura and Delta much better than the poor folks in Lake Charles. From the air, Lake Charles is a quilt of blue squares. But our friends didn’t have any damage, and Rebecca picked us up at Girard Park and took us to their new home for coffee and conversation. She has built an enviable hanging fence garden, and they have a puppy named George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life”). But I’ve run out of space, so I’ll finish this story next week. Till then, blue skies.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 20, 2020 Airport to Alamo...bike style

The Liberty Gazette

October 20, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Last week, Mike wrote about flying and hiking and our steps from historic Stinson Municipal Airport along the Mission Reach trail system. A few days later, we flew back to Stinson with our bikes. We had a lovely time cloud-busting and were welcomed back by one of the friendly line guys with Stinson’s Gate One FBO, who chocked the Elyminator while we tied down the wings. 

After ordering fuel and unloading, we rolled through the beautiful 1930’s terminal, crossed Mission Road, and we were on our way to a glorious ride. Well, at least for a couple of miles, until Mike’s bike broke. 

Mike: At first, I thought I was doing something wrong in shifting, because the gears seemed to be off. I could only shift in a couple of gears. I tried to locate the source of the problem, but realizing we were wasting precious time and getting nowhere, we chose to call it a day and hobbled the old Mongoose back. 

Linda: The timing worked out okay, though, as we drilled more holes in the sky on the return and arrived home a smidgen early for a web conference I was attending. 

While we weren’t super happy about not flying the next day, we took the day to shop for a new bike for Mike and to vote early. The bike shop was running about a week behind on repairs, so if we wanted to ride, he’d need a new bike. Back to the hangar to unload the old ‘Goose and replace it with his spiffy new wheels. The next day’s forecast looked pretty good. Not the early morning forecast, which was fog-laden, but certainly we could be wheels up by 8:30 or 9. With nothing planned to rush back for, we could spend the whole day cycling around San Antonio. 

The picnic lunches and water bottles in our backpacks added a little weight, but it wasn’t too bad. It’s just a little over ten miles along the Mission trails from Stinson airport to the Alamo, with the latter few miles being the bike lanes of South Alamo Street. Unfortunately, the place to secure our bikes wasn’t nearby, and the idea of “required” face masks while wandering the grounds around Alamo was a major turn-off. So, we said hello to Teddy Roosevelt on his horse, snapped a selfie in front of the Alamo, and meandered back. 

We peddled back down the generous bike lanes of South Alamo Street, through the Blue Star Arts Complex and numerous parks. We drank all the water, lightening the load, and enjoyed a picnic lunch in a shaded park along the San Antonio River. The light breeze helped cool us in the 91-degree sunshine. 

Roundtrip, we treaded 20.55 miles. Skies were clear leaving San Antonio, but by 7:30 in the evening, descending to our home airport, the fog would roll in soon. Next time, we’ll go east. We’ve discovered “ridewithgps.com” and some routes from Lafayette Regional Airport, which looks like a great fly-and-bike trip.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 13, 2020 Fly, Hike, Bike

The Liberty Gazette

October 13, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Flying and hiking, what a combination. But finding easy access to a trailhead near an airport is difficult. Often, when we land, ground transportation of some sort is needed to get to local attractions. When I read about the Stinson Loop Trail, a feeder trail to San Antonio’s Mission Reach walk along the San Antonio River, it beckoned me. 

For two consecutive day trips, the Elyminator whisked us across the state in about an hour and a half. We contended with storms moving into the area which caused a bumpy ride the first day. Gusty winds met us at Stinson Airport, but on the ground, that wind relieved some of the highly humidified hot air on the trail. The second day, the weather was better, and we scooted across the sky at higher and cooler altitudes. 

San Antonio Missions National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015. The distance between all five frontier mission complexes is about eight miles along the San Antonio River Walk. The northern most mission is the Alamo, and at the south end is Mission Espada. Where the Stinson trail meets the main route is just north of Mission San Juan Capistrano, which we walked to the first day. The next day, we took the path north to Mission San Jose. 

We discovered that regardless of footwear, long walks on concrete takes a toll on the body. Pavement is best suited for bikes, which we plan for future trips. 

We were rewarded with picnicking in a spacious courtyard as a peaceful breeze rustled through the trees, watching the buffalo grass gently wave. Mission San Jose’s stately steeple rose into an azure background punctuated by pillow-like white and gray hued clouds. Stone arches cast shadows on limestone walls painted purple by flowering sage bushes.  

Along the banks of the San Antonio river, benches and picnic areas provide rest stops for contemplating while watching egrets and herons go through their daily routines. Boulders along the Stinson Loop trail did the same. They’re coated with a special sealant that I’m sure is meant to prevent graffiti artists from defacing them. 

Each mission is unique. Mission San Juan Capistrano is small in comparison to Mission San Jose. Many of the walls at San Juan have fallen. The chapel is basic with a flat façade that houses three bells. Inside, the sanctuary is narrow and minimally appointed. Mission San Jose boasts a visitor center with set hours. When we entered the front gate, we were met by a massive walled space occupied by a traditional church. The surrounding wall itself also provided structure for the former residences for the mission’s inhabitants. 

Only a few other folks milled about while we were there, so much of the time, we had the entire complex mostly to ourselves. After completing our three-hour trek, the Elyminator whisked us home. We spent approximately the same amount of time getting there and back as touring the missions and drinking in history. Airplanes are great for making day-hiking trips. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 6, 2020 Autumn Flying

The Liberty Gazette

October 6, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: We’ve had several days of great flying weather. Inside the Elyminator is more comfortable when temperatures are not in the 90’s. In fact, the 50’s and 60’s are great. That’s a big reason why this is the time of year for the best fly-ins in this part of the country. While some have been cancelled (or might ask guests to plaster a cover over their faces), flying, and the camaraderie that comes with it, are still possible.

We recently installed some major upgrades to our instrument panel. These new devices open more opportunities for approaches our airplane wasn’t previously equipped to fly. Not that departure and enroute are unimportant, but it’s the approach to landing that can get sticky in weather. If the ceiling or visibility are too low, well, you’d better have equipment that will get you down to the runway safely, or plan to land somewhere else. 

The Elyminator used to have the old-fashioned instruments we call “steam gauge.” We had a portable GPS receiver, but not an installed one, and that makes all the difference in the world when it comes to what you can and cannot do, legally and safely. So not only did we bite the bullet for the latest model of one of the Garmin aviation navigation units, but we added several other instruments as well that give us important, legal-to-rely-on-in-weather information. That’s a game-changer. It means we’re not restricted nearly as much by the weather now.

However, even with fancy new gadgets, we stay away from big monsters like thunderstorms, hail, and high winds. 

We took advantage of a few days off work recently to fly some day trips to San Antonio’s Stinson Airport. That’s the second oldest (continually operated) airport in the U.S. The city of San Antonio has a tremendous trail system. The Mission Trails take you to all the missions. You can hike or bike around beautiful scenery. And after four years of hard work, the Stinson Trail opened last year to connect Stinson Airport with all those awesome trails. 

We packed a picnic lunch and after landing at Stinson, we walked out the historic terminal and crossed the street to Stinson Trail. Here begins the path to adventures. We made our first one to Mission San Juan Capistrano. It’s relatively small, some of it is ruins, but the walk is only about 3.5 miles. Great exercise! 

The next day, another picnic, this time at San Jose Mission, a much larger mission with more buildings intact. That day, we recorded a seven-mile hike. The bikes are coming out for the rest, since they are farther from the airport. 

We also discovered that San Antonio has kayak chutes. We’re keen on a trip to REI or somewhere for foldable kayaks to fit in the airplane. The real test will be – can we get both, bikes and kayaks, in the airplane? We’ll report back when we find out.

Meanwhile, look for Mike’s thoughts on the awesomeness of San Antonio’s trails next week.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 29, 2020 All-in, Always

The Liberty Gazette

September 29, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: The water laps at their boat as one fisherman dozes and the other reels in his line, then recasts. The rugged cliffs behind them disappear when a large silhouette descends into view. A Consolidated PBY Catalina is landing on the lake and it heads straight for them. When the flying boat touches the water’s surface, its hull splashes, and the fisherman turns to look. Startled, he shakes his buddy awake, pulls on the outboard motor’s starter rope with no success. The dudes end up diving overboard as the Catalina becomes airborne again and flies over them. Such is the humorous opening to Steven Spielberg’s 1989 movie Always. 

In the movie, the PBY, a WWII patrol bomber, was scooping up water to dump on a forest fire, a scene that has become all too common in the western U.S. these past summers. The lakes present a quick turnaround close to fires. This means more water-dumps in a shorter time. More water faster means a better fighting chance to put out the fire and save property and lives. 

The forest service began using repurposed WWII bombers for aerial firefighting in the 1940s. Later, they added military transports and some old prop airliners. Turbulent conditions over the fires causes fatigue, for both man and machine. Crews sit on reserve and wait like their ground-bound firemen counterparts. When they are not flying, they need to find ways to rest because when they get a call, they are all-in. 

I once got a tour of an old C-119 Boxcar, a Korean War era transport, at Hemet-Ryan Airport with my college flying teammates. Ten of us piled into the monstrous cockpit as the pilot told us what many of the switches did, like the red button on the control wheel that jettisoned the load. He got worried when one young lady sitting in the captain’s seat took too much interest in the button, she could not keep her fingers away from it. Had she pushed it, 3,000 gallons of iron-red slurry would have dumped on the ramp—instantly. 

When the old bombers and military transports began to wear out, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion submarine chaser got signed up. Some are still operating. With each new generation of aircraft came new tactics for fighting the blazes. Slurry bombers now carry even larger loads. They can turn on and off the flow, not just dump it. They can rain the retardant down over a long run. 

Today the slurry bombers include some of the largest transports in the world. A DC-10 was used to fight the fires we had here in Texas a few years ago. The biggest is a 747 that carries over 19,000 gallons of retardant. Watching that behemoth glide along only a couple hundred feet above a mountain ridge, a red trail streaming behind it, is both contrast and similarity in which this plane sneaks up on a fire the way the PBY did on the fishermen in the movie, Always. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 22, 2020 Repurposing

The Liberty Gazette

September 22, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: May I say, “Due to Covid19” we’re going to explore repurposing? Seems like the perfect time—nowhere to go, so we need things to do from home to keep us busy and productive. Expanding on the theme of a couple weeks ago, let’s take a look at some of the ways airplanes get repurposed. This just may give you an idea that will keep you occupied till the virus is gone.

We might as well start locally, too. Dr. Cody Abshier’s Twin Beech (with a colorful past), is being repurposed for “Tool School,” which is starting up soon. When he isn’t taking it for a spin around the block, it’s been tucked away, awaiting curious kids’ hands and minds to make it into something fun, like a fort. 

Maybe when one of those kids grows up, he or she will take what they learned in Tool School and snag a great deal on a retired airliner and turn it into a house. Or a hotel. Or a restaurant. Or a car. Or a camper. Or a boat. Or maybe an artist will get ahold of a sadly grounded plane and let it find new wings as a sculpture. All these things are possible.

The Vickers VC-10 was the last of the British-built jets. A Brit named Steve Jones, whose friends own a scrapyard, bought just one engine nacelle (that round, bullet-looking piece that hangs off the wing, or elsewhere on the plane and houses an engine) and converted it into a camper. 

In Suwon, South Korea, the second Boeing 747 ever made, but the first to be flown commercially, was converted to a restaurant. Unfortunately, the business didn’t survive long, but the same idea has worked out great in Taupo, New Zealand. 

A McDonald's restaurant there started out life as a fully functional C-47 (the military version of the Douglas DC-3, my favorite airplane). It was born in January 1943 and saw action in the Pacific theater during WWII. Life after the war brought it to Australia, where it hauled passengers for an airline for several years, then went to work for the Post Office. Coming out of a 24-year retirement in 2014, it can now fit up to 20 diners at 10 tables in the modified fuselage.

Probably one of the most famous aircraft morphological occurrences was a yacht, the conversion completed circa 1974. The 1939 Boeing 307 Stratoliner, one of only ten built, was first owned by Howard Hughes (who may or may not be buried in Houston) for his airline, TWA. The airplane changed hands a few times and was abandoned and sold at auction in 1969. Ken London’s winning bid of $62 left him enough change to chop off the wings and turn it into the luxurious floating “Cosmic Muffin.”

Cosmic Muffin

There are many more examples of creative thinking—and doing—which have given old airplane carcasses new life. So if you’re looking for a unique project, look no farther than your nearest aircraft boneyard.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 8, 2020 Changing Boxes

The Liberty Gazette

September 8, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: A week ago, I said goodbye to a piece of me. For over 12 years I have been teaching pilots to fly the Hawker 800XP, a twin-engine corporate jet. I teach in a simulator and a classroom, and I fly the jet for clients when they need a fill-in pilot. 

After 34 years, FlightSafety retired the Hawker simulator in its Houston Learning Center. As an instructor for FlightSafety, I have taught thousands of hours in this “box.” As an FAA authorized evaluator, I conducted between 300 and 400 tests and checks in it. I have taught in other jets but never so much time in one simulator. 

Fittingly, the last training event I performed was for Larry, a long-time customer who is celebrating 50 years of training with our company. The company’s other pilot with whom he has spent more than 25 years flying, was one of the original trainees in this very simulator back in 1986. Their training was to span four days, after which, the simulator would be dismantled. But Hurricane Laura’s impending arrival changed that. With a hard tear-down date of August 31st, the training schedule was reworked to do all simulator training in two days. The technicians were shutting down everything in hurricane preparation as the last simulator session ended.

With all that, we completed both pilots’ training with enough time left over to let them fly the approach that every pilot loves: the River Visual to Runway 19 at Ronald Reagan International in Washington, D.C. Because of restrictions around the nation’s capital since 9/11, doing this in a simulator is the closest many pilots will ever come to landing there. 

After the storm passed, I came back on Friday to fly the simulator myself one last time. I received an instrument proficiency check by my boss with another instructor as co-pilot. The yoke felt so natural nestled in my hands, and the aircraft responded as if part of me.

The check portion completed, we flew along and reminisced about people and events. Like the time the simulator collapsed while I was doing my required annual observation with an FAA inspector. When it is operating normally, it stands about ten feet tall on six stilts that push and pull the main housing,

making it feel like it’s climbing and turning. When the hydraulic system fails, the fluid generally bleeds off slowly and the simulator settles to the floor. But that time the two aft actuators lost all their fluid immediately, and the simulator crashed backwards, ending with all of us inside looking up at the ceiling—like sitting in a rocket on a launch pad. I crawled out the door at the back and stepped onto the floor. The others climbed out after me. Such memories.

I spent the last few minutes of the simulator’s last day snaking through the mountains of Colorado one more time. The technicians paced, antsy to start disassembly. Someone said I hijacked the sim. But fortunately, no one could shoot out the tires. Tomorrow, a new day, a new box.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

September 1, 2020 The People of Liberty versus Hurricanes

The Liberty Gazette 

September 1, 2020 

Ely Air Lines 

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Three years ago, our plans for Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia were thwarted by Hurricane Harvey’s invasion. Because we write this column the week before you read it here, we're writing as we prepare for Hurricane Laura and thinking of the great things that happened here three years ago.

Ten days of Vacation Croatia turned into four days of Vacation Rodeway Inn, Humble. Trapped on our way to the airport shortly before it closed, thinking we’d get out in the nick of time, there was no place to go but the next hotel parking lot. We had nothing to complain about. While so many lost so much in the floods, our house was untouched. That fact was due to the superheroes who saved Liberty from becoming part of an enlarged Trinity River bottom. 

Breaking from the world of aviation, we will always be thankful for those who spent days saving the levy around Travis Park, and ultimately the city. 

These are the people to whom we are grateful that we had a house to come home to when we could finally escape Humble:

Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) #5 members, James Poitevent, Skeet Raggio, and James Leonard. James Poitevent was at the levy from Sunday morning on through the week. He oversaw the entire operation like Mel Gibson in the middle of the firefight in “We Were Soldiers.” With his contacts in construction and the oilfield, he raised up a mighty army to face down Harvey’s attack. 

The other two WCID members, Walt Patterson and Victor Lemelle, held the fort in Ames, watching over ditches affecting Ames and the Liberty Municipal Airport.

Alton Fregia of Daisetta brought five tractors and numerous men who worked twelve-hour shifts. They made a formidable team.

We were in trouble, folks. Serious trouble. Had it not been for the community coming together, bringing equipment and manpower, most of the city would likely have been under water.

Arnold Smart, of Smart Oilfield Service, brought pumps, as did Curtis Hudnall of Curtis & Son Vacuum Service. Dwight Lumpkins, of Clay Mound Sporting Center, brought two pumps. Dwayne Johnson, of Johnson’s Trucking brought a track hoe and himself. John Hebert, lifetime superhero, supplied fuel for all these vehicles.

Oscar Cooper, of Cooper Electric, was there from Sunday morning on, trying to keep an ailing pump running, one of two owned by the city and the WCID.

David Chandler, of Oilfield Welding and Fabrication in Daisetta, brought his expertise and equipment, and we’d have been bad off if he hadn’t. David used a plasma cutter to cut steel plating to cover a grated hole so the water wouldn’t blow up through a drain.

Tim Killion, of Texas Armory, flew drone reconnaissance for an aerial view of water levels.

Gary Broz was the City Manager and Tom Warner was the City Engineer. They were just as dedicated to the safety of Liberty and stayed on the scene during the critical time.

Surely there were others unnamed, but no less heroic. Thanks are inadequate for what our neighbors have done to save our city. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

August 25, 2020 Humble Lemons

The Liberty Gazette

August 25, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Jeff Bloch, a/k/a Speedycop, is a Washington, D.C. police officer who, along with his wife, Jaime, and their “Gang of Outlaws,” have built 30 crazy race cars. Early in 2012, Jeff was at Hyde Field, now called Washington Executive Airport, when he noticed what appeared to be an abandoned 1956 Cessna 310. It had been robbed of its engines, fuel tanks, tail section, and “basically, everything it needed to fly,” says Jeff in his YouTube video. His plans for the airplane carcass? Direct to: 24 Hours of Lemons, or, the “Lemons Rally.” It’s supposed to be the polar opposite of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race, which attracts expensive cars. “Lemons,” is “an irreverent endurance racing series for $500 cars,” says an article by the group, 24hoursoflemons.com. 

The purpose of the rally is for owners of really ugly or unappreciated cars to take them on road trips and show them off. Just for fun. They report some interesting happenings, such as a 1962 Chevy Impala that had to undergo a heart transplant during the race (an engine change). In a parking lot. And they still won. Once even a 1989 Yugo won. Having been in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, we have heard every Yugo joke there is. 

Long story shortened for space here, the airplane had suffered a wheels-up landing in 1965 which the NTSB reported as resulting in major damage, but it was repaired and flew again, up until 1973, when it made its final flight home to Hyde Field. It had been a good workhorse all its life and was due a fun retirement. Under Jeff’s direction, both the airplane and a Toyota Van Wagon (the donor vehicle) underwent some pretty complex procedures to remove, add, and merge body parts. And voila! A car!

The Cessna-Toyota was even street legal, and Jeff drove it to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he shocked more than a few gamblers. It was so much fun, he did it again. After the 310, he converted a boat, a camping trailer, and a Bell OH-58 amphibious helicopter into road racers. The amphib helo had paid its dues in Vietnam, and later by a U.S. drug task force. It, too, was street legal, making it a rare vehicle to have navigated in the air, on land, and at sea.

Photo courtesy caranddriver.com

Racing is still going on, despite Covid, with “Lemons Rallies” September 12-13 in Kershaw, South Carolina and Deer Trail, Colorado.

For a good laugh, I recommend their videos, which you’ll find on their website, along with information on how to register your own $500 car in a race (it doesn’t have to have been an airplane). If you’d like to see Jeff’s video on transforming a Cessna into a Lemon, search on YouTube for “Spirit of Lemons – Donor Van.” Or visit his Facebook page, full of photos and stories, including the “TrippyTippyHippyVan,” a gutted Volkswagon Van which he tipped on its side and then married it to an old VW Rabbit.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

August 18, 2020 Little Stinker

The Liberty Gazette

August 18, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

The child knew at an early age that flying would be the thing. By age eight, this child had the parents convinced, and the house was soon filled with books on aviation. The bug caught on and the whole family took flying lessons. And the little stinker soloed an airplane for the first time at age 12. A natural pilot. The first legal solo came on the child’s 16th birthday, because that’s what the FAA says is the minimum age. There was no turning back, but there were roadblocks, because the child was a girl, and girls weren’t supposed to fly.

But she grew up to be National Aviation Hall of Famer Betty Skelton Frankman, known as “The First Lady of Firsts.” Before she passed in 2011 at the age of 85, Betty had grown from the small girl who hopped rides in Stearmans at the local airport to qualifying to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots at age 17. Unfortunately, the youngest age allowed in the WASP was eighteen and a half, and the organization disbanded before she reached that age. So, Betty went on to earn her commercial pilot certificate at age 18, and then became a flight instructor and added multi-engine ratings. Nothing stopping this woman! 

No doubt the limiting mindset of the day was a great frustration. But she never gave up. One day, her dad was planning an airshow as a fundraiser for their local Jaycees. Betty volunteered to learn aerobatics and be the show’s star performer. She learned loops and rolls in a Fairchild PT-19 and two weeks later borrowed the plane for the show.

She’d found her niche, and no one could tell her no, unlike the airlines and military. In 1946, she bought an aerobatic airplane to start her career in airshows and competition aerobatics, a Great Lakes biplane. In it, she gained her first title as International Feminine Aerobatic Champion in 1948. 

Then she discovered the sleek little Pitts. It took months of convincing to get the man-owner to sell it to her, but once she strapped that little single-seater on, she won herself two more championships, in 1949 and 1950. “Little Stinker” is now hanging upside-down from the ceiling of the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport.

Betty was the first to do a propeller-ribbon-cutting—from 10’ above the ground. Inverted. She subsequently set several land speed records and drove in a NASCAR race. Although her gender prohibited her from becoming an astronaut, she underwent the same physical and psychological tests as the original Mercury seven, who adopted her as one of their own, calling her “Seven and a half.”

She still holds more combined aircraft and automotive records than anyone in history (17) and was inducted into the International Aerobatic Hall of Fame, the International Council of Air Shows Hall of Fame, and the Corvette Hall of Fame. Each year the United States National Aerobatic Championships honors the highest placing female pilot with the “Betty Skelton First Lady of Aerobatics” award. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com