National Air and Space Museum Archives

Women in Aviation - Beech Aircraft Company - Parade of Champions

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.XXXX.0311
Dates:
1929-1966
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.35 Cubic feet
1 flat box
Repository:
This scrapbook is a pictorial history of women in aviation, particularly the contributions of women with a connection to Beech Aircraft Company.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This scrapbook is a pictorial history of women in aviation, particularly the contributions of women with a connection to Beech Aircraft Company. The scrapbook is in a three-ring binder that measures approximately 11 by 11.5 by 3 inches and features many captioned photographs and some ephemera. Many of the photos were taken when various pilots visited the Beech Aircraft Company and many include Olive Ann Beech. Some photographs show pilots posed beside aircraft. Pilots shown in the scrapbook include Gladys O'Donnell; Iris Louise McPhetridge Thaden; Alma Arlene Palsgraff Davis; Ruth Rowland Nichols; Amy Mollison; Charlotte Frye; Lee Ya-Ching; Martha Ann Woodrum; Mildred Harshman; Joan Houbec; Mary Jane Sasala; Nadine Ramsey; Blanche Wilcox Noyes; Joan Fairfax; Mrs. G. S. Bustamente; Frances S. (Ceniceros) Bera; Lucile Wright; Edna Gardner Whyte; Janet Munkres; Peggy L. Pierce; Jacqueline Auriol; Viola Gentry; Jacqueline "Jackie" (Bessie Lee Pittman) Cochran; Gene Nora Jessen; Joyce Case; Patricia Z. McEwen; Edna D. Bower; Hideko Yokoyama; Grazia Sartori; Ann Roethlee; Mary Landis; Rachel Henry; Dorothy Magoffin; Margaret Ringenberg Grabill; Marion Rice Hart; Louise Sacchi; Velma Lee Copeland; Marilyn Copeland; Marion Dietrich; Jan Dietrich; Geraldine Lois Fredritz "Jerrie" Mock; Felicity Burnolli; Suzanne Beech; Toni LeVier; Jacqueline Cousins; and Joan Wallick. Aircraft shown in the scrapbook include the Travel Air Model B-4000 (J-5-C); Beech 17 Staggerwing; Beech Baron; Beech Queen Air A80; Beech Bonanza; and the Beech Musketeer.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Collection is in original order.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Walter Beech, along with Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman, founded the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, Kansas in 1925. Travel Air was known for producing highly successful racing aircraft and several entrants in the 1929 Women's Air Derby flew Travel Airs, including the winner Louise Thaden. Shortly after Travel Air merged with Curtiss-Wright Corporation in 1929, Walter Beech left the larger company and founded Beech Aircraft Corporation with his wife Olive Ann Beech and three others in Wichita in 1932. The first aircraft produced by the company was the Beech 17 Staggerwing, designed to be a personal aircraft faster than military craft. Olive Ann Beech proposed that Beech Aircraft could increase sales of the aircraft by sponsoring a woman pilot, Louise Thaden with Blanche Noyes acting as co-pilot, to fly the Staggerwing in the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race. Thaden and Noyes won. Beech Aircraft continued to produce numerous successful civilian and military aircraft, and support women pilots, and Olive Ann Beech played an integral role in the company. In 1950, after the death of Walter Beech, she was named president of the company and remained in that role until Beech Aircraft was purchased by Raytheon in 1980 at which time she became a member of Raytheon's board of directors.

Administration

Author
Jessamyn Lloyd
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Ninety-Nines, Gift, NASM.XXXX.0311
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Jessamyn Lloyd, 2021.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Preferred Citation
Women in Aviation - Beech Aircraft Company - Parade of Champions, NASM.XXXX.0311, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women air pilots Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beech Bonanza Family Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beech 17 Staggerwing, General Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beech Aircraft Corp Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beech, Olive Ann, 1903-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Thaden, Iris Louise McPhetridge Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ninety-Nines (Organization) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
NASMRefDesk@si.edu