Day 4 - Aviation heritage and legacy

I slept in till 830 today, then joined Mary and eight other racers at IHOP for breakfast (yes, again - women air racers do like pancakes and coffee for breakfast!). We then took a ride over to a hangar at the airport for an event organized by aviation artist Joe Jones, plus Nick Sparks and Amanda Pope, the producers of a new documentary on legendary aviatrix Pancho Barnes. The event was to honor women in aviation, and particularly us air racers. Mary and I each got an autographed poster of the Joe's artwork for the movie, and we got to talk to all of them. Then there were short speeches by the local Fox news chief meteorologist, who is also a pilot; by the first woman airline pilot Emily Howell Warner; and by our own Gene Nora Jessen, test pilot, racer, and one of the Mercury 13. Mary and I both had tears in our eyes as Emily Warner described her long road into professional aviation, at a time when she trained many men to fly for the airlines, but wasn't allowed to fly for them herself. Like many women who have fought the great battles in the struggle for equality, she was funny, self-deprecating, and matter of fact about what she has done.
Mary and the Purdue collegiate team, Juliana and Lauren.











Then we saw the start of the new Pancho Barnes movie, which was great. Pancho was voiced by Kathy Bates, and the movie was narrated by Tom Skerritt. Pancho was a larger than life character who received a traditional Victorian upbringing and was wed early to a clergyman, but broke away to go work on a banana boat disguised as a man, during which time she got mixed up in the Mexican revolution! Then she learned to fly, and became a great speed pilot who participated in the first Powder Puff Derby (predecessor of the current Air Race Classic) in 1929, along with Amelia Earhart. She is most famous for running the Happy Bottom Riding Club in the high California desert, which was the favorite hangout of all the test pilots from what is now Edwards Air Force Base. She was a hard drinking, hard living woman who swore like a trooper, and an excellent pilot as well. The movie had some really funny moments.

Gene Nora talking to a young fan. This little girl already has 6 hours in airplanes. Her first ambition is to be the only woman to fly a triplane; and then she wants to successfully complete Amelia Earhart's round the world, trans-Pacific trip. She was awesome!
Unfortunately we had to leave early for the All Racers briefing. This only took two hours (compared to 7 hours last year), which was a relief, and we were reminded about all the safety and planning aspects of the race which was very useful.


The flyby procedures for each stop have now been posted - here is a picture of the procedure at Jacksonville Il.

Tonight we have a Start Banquet, so Mary and I cleaned up for that. We haven't eaten all day so we appreciated the food. Each team was called up to receive their charm depicting the 2009 race route. Some pics from the event...