KatHerine Stinson

Born: February 14, 1891

died: July 8, 1977

Katherine “Katie” Stinson was an early woman aviator who paved the way for later women World War II pilots. During the early 1900s, women were often refused flying lessons under the presumption that they were physically and emotionally unsuited for flying. ¹ Stinson learned to fly before World War I, but was grounded during the war because civilian flights were prohibited to channel resources exclusively toward military operations. ² When Stinson offered to fly for the military, she was denied. ^{1, 3} Despite these obstacles, Stinson was permitted to raise funds for the war effort with her aerial performances and dropped cards and souvenir “bombs of mercy” from her plane urging people to support the Red Cross. ^{1, 4} In 1917 she applied for the War and Postal Departments and was permitted to fly the U.S. mail during the war. ¹ The first woman to fly the U.S. Post, she flew from Chicago to New York City with 61 letters, setting a distance record. ¹ Wanting to render her services to the war effort more directly, Stinson joined Mrs. Harriman’s Ambulance Corps, traveling overseas shortly before the war ended. ^{1, 2}

Stinson was born in Fort Payne Alabama to Emma Beavers and Edward Stinson, the oldest of four children. ¹ Some records indicate she was born in 1891, but newspaper articles sometimes indicated 1893 or later. ⁶ Her young age as an aviator made her a media sensation and earned her the moniker “The Flying Schoolgirl.” ² She was familiar with motors and cars and told the Chicago Inter Ocean in 1911, “I was raised on gasoline and cylinder oil instead of milk.” ⁶ Early in life, Stinson wanted to be a pianist, however, a formative life experience in a hot air balloon in Kansas City with Lieutenant H.B. Honeywell inspired an interest in aviation. ^{1, 2} After watching aviator John Moissant and his sister fly at Memphis she became determined to become a pilot. ¹ Flights with Tony Jannus at Kinloch Field near St. Louis, Missouri, and Jimmie Ward in Hot Springs, Arkansas, inspired her to take steps to pursue a career in aviation. ^{2, 7} Stinson approached Maximilian Liljestrand at Max Lillie’s Flying School at Cicero Field near Chicago. ¹ Liljestrand initially refused her lessons until Stinson produced $250 which bought 250 minutes of flight instruction. ¹ On her first solo flight, the motor quit on her Wright B airplane, yet Stinson managed to land the plane safely. ¹ After three weeks of instruction, Stinson passed her Fédéracion Aéronautique Internacionale (FAI) test in 1912. ⁸ Officially obtaining her pilot’s license on July 24, 1912, she became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the United States with license number 148. ^{1, 8}  

In 1913, following her training, Stinson and her mother Emma started the Stinson Aviation Corporation with $10,000, buying a modified Wright B airplane, which launched Stinson’s aviation career. ^{1, 2, 9} Later in 1916, she and her family created the Stinson Flying School in San Antonio, Texas, which later became known as Stinson Field. ² The flying school taught 83 World War II pilots how to fly. ² Stinson soon began flying at exhibitions using a Partridge-Keller Company biplane, performing in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and China. ^{1, 10} Newspapers reported that she earned $50,000 for her performances in China and Japan. ¹⁰ A sensation in Japan, Stinson received numerous gifts and awards from the Japanese people and wore a kimono during her flights. ¹¹ Though she performed stunts like the loop-the-loop, nosedives, spiral spins, and night skywriting, Stinson was known for her safe flying and meticulous aircraft maintenance. ^{1, 2, 12} She told the Kansas City Star in 1912, “I have great faith in the craft of the air and expect a day soon to come when such machines will have a much wider use.” ¹³

In 1917 she set a national record, 610 miles in just over nine hours, for distance and duration in a two-seater Curtiss JN with a ninety-horsepower OX-2 motor, dubbed “Speed Scout.” ¹ In 1918, she set a new duration record of ten hours flying from Chicago to New York. ² During Stinson’s time driving ambulances during the War, she contracted tuberculosis and had to give up flying. ¹ To speed her recovery, Stinson moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1920 for the dry climate, entering Sunmount Sanatorium. ^{1, 2} There she met architect John Gaw Meem, and became interested in architecture. ² Stinson began a second career as an architect, designing and restoring several buildings in Santa Fe in the Pueblo Revival Style. ^{1, 2} In 1927 she won an award for house plans that cost less than $6,000 to build. ¹

In 1928, Stinson married Miguel A. Otero, the son of a former territorial governor and they raised four adopted children together. ¹ In 2000, Stinson was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and in 2019 was selected for the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In her biography of Stinson Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation, Eileen Lebow reports that Stinson once proclaimed, “If you are going to let other people decide what you are going to do, I don’t think you will ever do much of anything.” ¹

IMAGES AND DOCUMENTS

Notes:

1. Lebow, Eileen F. Before Amelia: Women pilots in the early days of aviation. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2003.
2. Winegarten, Debra L. Katherine Stinson: The Flying Schoolgirl, Eakin Press, Austin, 2002.
3. “Woman Flier Who Has Offered Services to the Nation,” The Boston Globe, February 9, 1917, 5. Newspapers.com.
4. “Girl Flies from Buffalo to Washington for the Red Cross,” The Boston Globe, June 26, 1917, 4. Newspapers.com.
5. “Aviatrice at State Fair,” Livingston Daily Post, September 4, 1913, 1. Newspapers.com.
6. “Southern Girl Will Make Flight Today,” The Inter Ocean, Chicago, August 20, 1911, 1. Newspapers.com.
7. “Hot Springs Now Mecca for Elks,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 9, 1911, 2. Newspapers.com.
8. “Youngest Aviatrice in the World is a Hot Springs Girl,” Hot Springs New Era, May 13, 1912, 4. Newspapers.com.
9. “To build Airplanes,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 6, 1913, 3.com.
10. “Off for $50,000 Flight,” The McComb City Enterprise, January 4, 1917, 4. Newspapers.com.
11. “Japan Captured, Katherine Stinson Honored by Foreign Land,” The McComb City Enterprise, January 4, 1917, 4. Newspapers.com.
12. “Girl Flyer May Encircle Capitol,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, January 18, 1913, 1. Newspapers.com.
13. “Kansas City Woman Flew,” The Kansas City Star, February 14, 1912, 2. Newspapers.com.

Prepared by Sue Ruth, Ph.D., Central New Mexico Community College, sruth2@cnm.edu 

Featured Image: Wikipedia. 2023. “Katherine Stinson the nineteen-year-old girl aviator.” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified July 2, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Stinson.

Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Legacy Memorial, Find Your Veteran

https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/?utm_source=Veterans%20Legacy%20Memorial&utm_campaign=cem