Helen Richey was a female aviation pioneer who proved women could fly planes, break aviation records and even instruct men in the military on how to be pilots. Born on November 14, 1909 she was the youngest child of the McKeesport superintendent of schools, Joseph Burdette Richey.
In 1928 Helen was a passenger on a daily flight from McKeesport to Cleveland. It took some convincing to get her father’s permission. During this trip Helen saw the famous female pilot Ruth Elder. After this experience Helen Richey decided to become a pilot.
On October 27, 1929 she started taking flying lessons. She got her pilots license June 28, 1930. She then earned her limited commercial pilot's license on December 4, 1930.
In 1933 Helen Richey was contacted by Francis Marsalis about making an attempt at an endurance flying record. After taking off from a Miami airport the two women stayed aloft in a small monoplane for 9 days and 22 hours.
Here is a link to a news story of the event.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/237-hours-42-minutes-in-the-air
Soon after setting the world record Helen Richey was hired by by Central Airlines. On December 31, 1934 she made her first flight from Washington DC to Detroit. This made her the first female pilot to work as a pilot for a regularly scheduled commercial airline and the first female to fly the mail. Helen Richey’s application to the pilot’s union was rejected because she was a woman. After ten months she resigned from Central Airlines.
Her resignation was met by protests from many people around the country including Amelia Earhart.
The National Aeronautical Association in 1936 offered a $100 prize to the first pilot who established a new world aviation record. On February 1, 1936 Helen Richey set the world record of 77 miles per hour in a Class C light plane. Three months later in the same plane she set a new altitude record of 18,000 feet for airplanes weighing less than 440 pounds.
Helen completed an intensive pilot instructor’s course at Roosevelt Field in New York on May 6, 1940 and became the first woman to earn an instructor’s license. She was also the first woman assigned to train military pilots.
After the outbreak of World War II Helen Richey was among a group of American women who went to England to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases. In 1942 the Woman’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was organized in the United States and Helen Richey joined. She spent the next 16 months ferrying aircraft from American factories to air bases. The WASP organization was disbanded in December of 1944 and Helen Richey returned to McKeesport, PA.
Unable to find work in aviation Helen felt her flying achievements and experiences were no longer important. On January 7, 1947 her lifeless body was found lying on the bed in her New York apartment. She had apparently taken a fatal dose of sleeping pills. Helen Richey left the world of aviation a changed place. Her career earned a lot of respect for her and all the women in aviation past, present and future.
If you enjoyed reading this article click on “SUBSCRIBE” at the top of the page to automatically receive all future stories.
Comments