August 17, 2007
"Louise Thaden" mixed media 8"x 10" Louise McPhetridge Thaden, 1905-1979 Born in Arkansas, Louise Thaden earned her pilot’s license in 1928; she set an altitude record of 20,260 feet. She set a U.S. women’s endurance record of more than 22 hours. In 1929, she became only the fourth woman to earn a transport pilot license. Louise won the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, called the Powder Puff Derby, beating friends Amelia Earhart and Pancho Barnes. During the 1930s, Louise chalked up one altitude, endurance, and speed record after another, becoming the one of most famous female aviators of what is now considered “the golden age of aviation.”