offered up a little prayer. It was “Dear God, let them all be cows.”
Speaking of cows, I am reminded of one of the most famous of air mail stories. Dean Smith flew the route from New York to Cleveland for a good many years. On one occasion, when his motor failed him, he too sought a pasture for a landing. Unfortunately, the “animals” in it were not well behaved for they stood in his way and he landed directly on one. The following is in substance the account of the accident which he telegraphed to his chief—
“Motor cut. Forced landing. Hit cow. Cow died. Scared me.”
To return to the derby, it is but fair to give credit where it is due. The race was arranged and its prizes financed by the National Exchange Clubs, an organization which I believe has done more to aid aviation than any other non-professional group in America.
It is interesting to compare the status of women flying in 1929 with their position today. To be eligible for the 1929 derby, a current license and a minimum of one hundred hours’ solo flying were required. I doubt whether more than thirty American women could have qualified. But of this possible thirty, twenty turned out.
In 1929, only seven women held Department of Commerce Transport licenses and six of these were in the race. Today, as I have said before, there are more than seven times this number. In addi-
