the ground which she thought were signals that something was wrong. So she landed, half frozen—only to find out that she was an hour—but only an hour—on the long side of the previous record. Then Bobby Trout took the record back and after that Louise Thaden had it for a while, until Elinor Smith went up again and stayed for twenty-six hours or more. In this country that mark still stands.
In 1929 she and Bobby Trout tried a refueling flight in California. In a ship that was not really fit for the job, they contrived to stay aloft forty-two hours. They only came down then because their refueling partners had motor trouble and couldn't service them longer.
Miss Smith has flown many kinds of planes and flown them well. She likes to fly big ones, and I think she has a real philosophy for doing so. At least, she is quoted as having said, “If you come in with a light plane, nobody pays any attention to you. Heavy planes aren’t really any harder to handle, but people think they are. They think women can only handle little ones.” In which there is a great deal of truth.
In flying, as in many modern pursuits, a certain amount of showmanship helps one to get over the rough spots—especially if flying is a profession and competition hard.
Among the jobs connected with aviation which Miss Smith has developed is broadcasting a weekly aviation news radio talk. She has also proved very
