Laura Ingalls (aviator)

Laura Houghtaling Ingalls (1901 – January 10, 1967) was a female pilot of the 1930s.

Birth

She was born in Brooklyn, New York to Francis Abbott Ingalls I and Martha Houghtaling (1865 - ????). Martha was the daughter of David Harrison Houghtaling of Kingston, New York, who was a descendant of Jan Willemsen Hoogteling, who arrived in New York on May 9 1661.

Regarding her mother, Laura wrote: "My mother, partly through ill health, was extremely emotional and without adequate self-discipline; spoiled by her parents who thought she was wonderful and could do anything. Brilliant along certain lines, she possessed the trait I find most exciting in the American character, viz. the ability to hurdle difficulties and achieve the reputedly impossible. I grew up under such influence."

ibling

Her brother was Francis Abbott Ingalls II (1895- 19??) who was also born in Brooklyn. Francis registered for the draft while he was attending military school in Tuxedo Park, New York as a private in the infantry. He was an officer in both World War I and World War II. Francis married Mabel Morgan Satterlee (1901-1993) on September 19 1926. Mabel was the daughter of Herbert Livingston Satterlee and Louisa Pierpont Morgan, the granddaughter of J.P. Morgan.

Aviation

Her most well-known flights were made in 1934 and earned her a Harmon Trophy. Ingalls flew in a Lockheed Orion from Mexico to Chile, over the Andes Mountains to Rio de Janeiro, to Cuba and then to Floyd Bennett Field in New York, marking the first flight over the Andes by an American woman, the first solo flight around South America in a landplane, the first flight by a woman from North America to South America, and setting a woman's distance record of 17,000 miles.

Accused spy

She served time at the West Virginia Women's Reformatory in Alderson, West Virginia for violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, by not registering as a German agent. She was sentenced on February 20 1942, to between eight months and two years. She was transferred from the District of Columbia jail to the Alderson prison on July 14 1943. She was released on October 5 1943. Ingalls applied for a presidential pardon and her application was supported by Edward V. Rickenbacker, but she was never able to receive clemency. [http://libbypardon.net/2007/06/top-ten-non-pardons.html]

Death

She died on January 10 1967 in Burbank, California, aged 66.

Aviation records

*Longest solo flight ever made by a woman at 17,000 miles
*First solo flight by a woman from North to South America
*First solo flight around South America by man or woman
*First complete flight by a land plane around South America by a man or woman.
*First American woman to fly the Andes solo

Timeline

*1928 Soloed on Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island on December 23rd
*1929 Enrolled in Universal Flying School at Lambert-St. Louis Field in June
*1929 Obtained Limited Commercial license from Department of Commerce in September
*1930 Obtained Transport license from Department of Commerce on April 12th
*1930 Graduated from Universal Flying School Transport course with score of 98, was only girl in the School
*1930 Established Women's Loop record in D.H. Gipsy Moth over Lambert-St. Louis Field - 344 loops. Previous record 47 loops on May 4th
*1930 Bettered first loop record at Muskogee, Oklahoma by making 980 consecutive continuous loops in 3:40 in her D.H. Gipsy Moth on May 26th
*1930 Established World barrel-roll record for men and women of 714 rolls over Lambert-St. Louis Field in her D.H. Gipsy Moth on August 13th
*1930 Won third place Women's Dixie Derby from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, Illinois winning $800 in August and September
*1930 Established first Women's Transcontinental round trip record between Roosevelt Field and Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California and return. Time 30:25 to California; 25:20 on return flight to Roosevelt Field. Airplane: D.H. Gipsy Moth in October
*1934 Granted 3rd Class Radio Telephone license with authority to use code. Call letters KHTJQ in January
*1934 Took off from North Beach Airport, Jackson Heights, New York in Lockheed Air Express for flight to South America on February 28th
*1934 Took off from Miami for Havana, Cuba. Crossed the Caribbean Sea to Merida, Yucatan. Continued down through Central America to France Field, Cristóbal, Panama on March 8th
*1934 Flew non-stop from France Field, Cristobal, Canal Zone to Talara, Peru, a distance of 1296 miles - 460 miles over water. Continued down the West coast of South America to Santiago, Chile on March 13th
*1934 The Andes were crossed at an altitude of 18,000 feet through the Uspallata Pass between Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina on March 21st
*1934 Arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday April 17th
*1934 Arrived Miami, Florida on April 22nd
*1934 Arrived Floyd Bennett Field, New York completing 17,000 mile flight on April 25th

External links

* [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/ingalls.html Hargrave: Laura Ingalls]
* [http://www.geocities.com/~wallyg/ingalls.htm Ingalls family memorial]

References

*New York Times; May 4, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Makes 344 Loops in a Row; New York Flier Sets Record at St. Louis. St. Louis, May 3, 1930 (AP) Miss Laura Ingalls, 25 years old, of New York City, established a new women's record for consecutive loops in an airplane, executing 344 loops ... "
*New York Times; August 14, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Rolls Plane 714 Times"
*New York Times; October 6, 1930 "Laura Ingalls Flying To Coast For Record; Aviatrix Seeking Women's Continental Mark Reaches St. Louis After Take-Off Here."
*New York Times; December 18, 1941 "Laura Ingalls Held as Reich Agent; Flier Says She Was Anti-Nazi Spy; Laura Ingalls Is Jailed as a German Agent; Flier Says She Was Anti-Nazi Spy on Her Own. Washington, December 18, 1941. Laura Ingalls, woman flier, was arraigned before a United States Commissioner today, charged with being a paid agent of the German Government and as such failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act."
*New York Times; October 16, 1942 "No Laura Ingalls Parole; Board Rejects Plea In Case Of German Agent."