Thrills of Aviation

The Pantagraph carried a story of the exploits of Ruth Law, a famous aviatrix of the time, who was expected at the Leroy Fair. Ms. Law flew a biplane and from her plane a parachutist would leap. She was also slated to take up passengers in her plane. Just the prior week in Peoria, a horrible accident had occurred when a female balloonist crashed her gondola into a building and then fell to her death from a height of over 60 feet.

Ruth Law lived a long and profitable life. When she died in 1970 of natural causes, one obituary claimed that in her heyday she made as much as $9000 a week. She was the first woman to "loop the loop" in an airplane.

Ruth Law set a distance record flying from Chicago to New York in 1916 without stopping.

"From the start, when Law announced her plans to try to fly from Chicago to New York, she was not taken seriously. Even though her attempt was sanctioned by the Aero Club of America, the governing body of American aviation, many had their doubts as to whether a woman could make such a flight. Some felt she would not have the endurance to withstand the cold that would numb her limbs. Others felt the prolonged confinement in cramped quarters and its resulting fatigue could not be tolerated by a female. No American woman had ever made such a journey, and no one believed she had a plane capable of making such a distance." http://www.ninety-nines.org/Ruth_Law.htm

Law had calculated that the 53 gallons of gasoline would carry her from Chicago to Hornell, New York, but she had figured that there would be some favorable wind to aid her flight. It did not occur. Ten miles outside of Hornell, she realized her fuel was nearly depleted, and two miles from Hornell, she ran out entirely. Her engine quit, and she ended up gliding the final two miles to her landing site where supporters had gathered. Spectators gasped with wonder and admiration as they tried to get a glimpse of her. Landing in Hornell at 2:10 PM, she was so numb from the cold that she required assistance to reach a waiting automobile. She quickly consumed some food at a nearby hotel, while her gasoline was replenished, and her machine was filled with oil.

Read the entire story of this adventure at the linked page!!!