Phoebe Jane Fairgrave Omlie (November 21, 1902 – July 17, 1975) was an American aviation pioneer, particularly noted for her accomplishments as an early female aviator.
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/ref> Omlie was the first woman to receive an airplane mechanic's license, the first licensed female transport pilot, and the first woman to be appointed to a federal position in the aviation field.
During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Omlie set several world records in aviation, including the highest altitude parachute jump by a woman. She was also the first woman to cross the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
in a light aircraft
A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a Maximum Takeoff Weight, maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997.
Light aircraft are use ...
, and was considered by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
to be one of "eleven women whose achievements make it safe to say the world is progressing".
Early life
Phoebe Jane Fairgrave was born in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
on November 21, 1902, and was the only daughter of parents Harry J. Park and Madge Traister Park. After divorcing Harry Park, Madge married Andrew Fairgrave, who adopted her two children, Phoebe and Paul. Phoebe and her brother, Paul, attended Oak Park School in Des Moines until she was 12, when she and her family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...
. There, Fairgrave attended Madison School and Mechanic Arts High School and graduated in 1920. Fairgrave's interest in aviation was sparked the day before she graduated, when President Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
visited Minneapolis. President Wilson's visit was commemorated by a flyover and was the first airshow
An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without which they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground.
The largest air ...
of any kind that Fairgrave had witnessed.
Aviation career
Shortly after graduating high school, Fairgrave spent a few months at the Guy Durrell Dramatic School and worked briefly as a secretary. Bored with the prospects, she began hanging around airfields near her home and attempted to convince the airport manager to allow one of his flight instructors to take her flying. The manager finally agreed, thinking that he could scare Fairgrave's interest in aviation out of her by performing various aerobatic maneuver
Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in Formation flying, formation with several others. Nearly all a ...
s in an attempt to make her sick. Instead, Fairgrave demanded more flight time and used some of her inheritance to purchase a Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
after her fourth flight.
Still in her teens, Fairgrave started performing stunts on the wing of her aircraft as another pilot remained at the controls. Fairgrave began wing walking
A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
, learned to hang below the plane by her teeth, parachute
A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...
, and "dance the Charleston on the top wing". Using the stunts she had learned, Fairgrave claimed the record for the highest parachute jump for a woman by jumping from her plane at ( MSL) and earned a movie deal, flying aerobatic stunts for the film serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...
'' The Perils of Pauline''. This was her first flight with Vernon C. Omlie, who would become her husband. Following the record setting jump, Fairgrave and Omlie flew around the country on a barnstorming
Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in t ...
tour and eventually married in 1922.
In 1925, the Omlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
and began offering flying lessons and mechanical services to local residents. A year later, in 1927, Phoebe became the first woman to receive an airplane mechanic's license, as well as the first licensed female transport pilot. While Vernon continued operating the business and working as a flight instructor, Phoebe began working for the Mono Aircraft Company. Flying the company's Monocoupe 90
The Monocoupe 90 was a two-seat, light cabin airplane built by Donald A. Luscombe for Monocoupe Aircraft.Eden and Moeng 2002 p. 993 The first Monocoupe (Model 5) was built in an abandoned church in Davenport, Iowa, and first flew on April 1, 192 ...
light aircraft out of Quad City International Airport in 1928, Omlie set a world altitude record for women when she reached (MSL). That same year, Omlie competed in the Edsel Ford Air Tour and became the first woman to cross the Rocky Mountains in a light aircraft. Omlie later joined the Ninety-Nines
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...
as a charter member after competing in a race with Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
.
Omlie's success as a pilot was recognized by the Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
, and she was enlisted to fly a female speaker around the country for Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's 1932 presidential campaign. After the successful campaign, Omlie was appointed by President Roosevelt as the "Special Adviser for Air Intelligence to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...
". This made her the first woman to be appointed to a federal aviation position. In this role, Omlie acted as a "liaison between the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics and the Bureau of Air Commerce" alongside Amelia Earhart to create what would become the National Airspace System
The National Airspace System (NAS) is the airspace, navigation facilities and Airport, airports of the United States along with their associated information, services, rules, regulations, policies, procedures, personnel and equipment. It includes c ...
.
On August 5, 1936, Vernon Omlie and seven passengers were killed when a commercial flight they were aboard crashed in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
while attempting to land in foggy conditions. Phoebe Omlie immediately resigned her position in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and returned to Memphis. Following her husband's death, Omlie did not return to Washington, D.C., until 1941, when she accepted a job as "Senior Private Flying Specialist of the Civil Aeronautics Authority
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated A ...
". In this position, and to meet the severe need for pilots for service in WWII, Omlie established 66 flight school
Flight training is a course of study used when learning to aviator, pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills.
Flight training can be conducted un ...
s in 46 states, including a school in Tuskegee, Alabama
Tuskegee ( ) is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same y ...
that would later train the famous Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...
. With the Tennessee Bureau of Aeronautics, she established an "experimental" program to train women as instructors. The first class, ten women from various states, trained between September and February 1943, and was meant to establish her strong and, to some, controversial belief that " . . . if women can teach men to walk, they can teach them to fly." These women went on to instruct both men and women pilots both in military and civilian flight training programs, including the Navy V-5 and the USAAF Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
.
Unhappy about the increasing regulation of the aviation industry by the United States Federal Government under President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
, Omlie resigned in 1952 and left aviation.
Later life
After resigning from the Civil Aeronautics Authority, Omlie returned to Memphis and purchased a cattle farm in Como, Mississippi
Como is a town in Panola County, Mississippi, United States, which borders the Mississippi Delta and is in the northern part of the state, known as hill country. The population was 1,279 as of the 2010 census.
History
In a 2007 article about the ...
. Omlie's inexperience with farming caused hardship for the business, so she traded the farm around 1957 for a small cafe and hotel in Lambert, Mississippi
Lambert is a town in Quitman County, Mississippi. The population was 1,273 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized b ...
. The hotel business proved to be just as unsuccessful for Omlie, who returned to Memphis in 1961.
Omlie periodically spoke to aviation groups about her concerns over increasing federal regulation of the industry, but the speaking engagements dwindled over time and ceased by 1970. The last five years of Omlie's life were spent in seclusion, living in a flophouse
A flophouse (American English) or doss-house (British English) is a place that has very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities.
Characteristics
Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for ove ...
in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, fighting lung cancer and alcoholism. Omlie died on July 17, 1975, and was buried next to her husband in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis.
In June 1982, a new air traffic control tower
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled ai ...
was dedicated and named in honor of Phoebe and Vernon Omlie at the Memphis International Airport
Memphis International Airport is a civil-military airport located southeast of downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is the primary international airport serving Memphis. It covers and has four runways., effective A ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omlie, Phoebe
1902 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American women
American aviation record holders
American women aviation record holders
American aviation pioneers
Aviators from Iowa
Barnstormers
Deaths from lung cancer in Indiana
Stunt pilots
Wing walkers
People from Des Moines, Iowa
People from Lambert, Mississippi