Elm Farm Ollie (also known as "Nellie Jay") became the first cow to fly in an

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

on February 18, 1930, as part of the International Aircraft Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Flight

Background

The newly-built St. Louis Arena served as the location for the second International Aircraft Exposition. Organized by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, the expo aimed to reinvigorate the floundering aviation industry. The onset of the Great Depression in the United States greatly diminished the market for planes, while supply of aircraft remained high, as did the public's concerns about the flight safety. Simultaneously, the industry grappled with internal struggles related to U.S. government air mail contracts which they felt threatened their financial stability. Famous aviators including Edward Stinson and Elinor Smith took part in the expo to help draw crowds. Charles Lindbergh, renowned pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis, was announced as an attendee. Event organizers promised public displays of planes and other aviation exhibits valued at over $2,500,000, an aviation-themed musical, and aerial demonstrations, including several world-record and world-first flights.

Record Flight

Up until the expo, no cow is known to have flown. In keeping with the motivations for the show, it was hoped that getting a cow airborne would generate buzz about planes, show the stability and safety of aircraft, and demonstrate the possibility of aviation as an effective means to transport livestock. Advertisements for the stunt also promised "scientific data will be collected on her behavior." Elm Farm Ollie, a Guernsey cow, was flown in a

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American Trimotor, three-engined transport plane, transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, afte ...

piloted by Claude Sterling of Parks Air College from her home at Sunnymeade Farms in Bismarck, Missouri to St. Louis. She was reportedly chosen because of her high daily milk yield, requiring up to three daily milkings. She was milked by Elsworth Bunce, in the process also becoming the first cow milked in-flight. The yield was then put into containers attached to parachutes and tossed out of the aircraft as it flew over the onlookers in the city below. Some accounts state the milking occurred on the flight from Bismarck, while others indicate it took place during a second flight that originated in St. Louis. As Lindburgh was speculated to attend the exposition, some milk was reserved for him, though the speculation proved to be false and he never actually made it to St. Louis.

Legacy

The story of Elm Farm Ollie turned up several times in trivia books and newspaper articles over the decades, including a feature in the Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic strip. She has been enshrined in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, the Dairy State, where Barry Levenson, a former state Assistant Attorney General and founder of the National Mustard Museum, made February 18 "Elm Farm Ollie Day" in connection to a festival in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, the museum's former location. Levenson's contributions to the Elm Farm Ollie corpus include a cantata titled "Madamme Butterfat."{{Cite news , last=Tschudy , first=Kim , date=Feb 18, 1993 , title=Ice cream with mustard just part of bovine fun , url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/521282414/ , work=The Capital Times , location=Madison, Wisconsin , pages=19

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