Ruth Elder - Studio Pose Print

Actress and Aviatrix!

Ruth Elder was many things -- movie star, pilot, activist. When Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris, she promptly vowed to be the first woman to fly the Atlantic, and signed up for flying lessons. She persuaded a group of businessmen to sponsor her and bought a new Stinson Detroiter airplane for the trip. The Detroiter was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane. A scant five months after Lindbergh's flight, Ruth Elder and her instructor, George Haldeman, set out from Lakeland, Florida toward Portugal. That was eighteen percent further than Lindberg's flight, but it passed over the Azores along the way. Good thing it did; Haldeman and Elder suffered an oil pressure failure and had to ditch in the ocean near the islands. A passing Dutch tanker found them floating in special inflatable rubber suits they'd taken along. So they both lived to tell of it. America took notice of her. She was given the female lead in the 1928 silent movie, Moran of the Marines. She played opposite Richard Dix. I n 1929, Ruth was back in the air. This time, she and twenty other women took part in the first Women's Air Derby -- a nine-day race, in nine segments, from Santa Monica to Cleveland. Elder was among fourteen finishers. She'd had to make one forced landing in a field of cattle. "Oh God, please let them be cows," she prayed as she touched down. Ruth would later set other records. Wonderful historical gift. Double matted 12" x 14";image approx.8" x 10"