Review of "The Roaring 20: The First Cross-country Air Race for Women," by Margaret Whitman Blair

 Review of

The Roaring 20: The First Cross-country Air Race for Women, by Margaret Whitman Blair, ISBN 0792253892

Five out of five stars

The beginning of the history of female flight

 On August 18, 1929, 20 women started their engines and began an air race from Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio. The course was a series of short hops rather than one or two long flights. The stops were often at locations where repair and maintenance facilities were limited, making it necessary for the women to consider several backup options.

 Much of the course was over undeveloped land, requiring the women to memorize landmarks as they flew, even though they did have compasses for direction finding. These 20 women were all pioneers in aviation and some of them died while engaging in their passion for flight. Amelia Earhart is the most famous of the roaring 20 and she was famously lost while attempting to fly across the Pacific.

 The woman demanded that they be treated as serious pilots and objected strongly when the race was characterized as a “Powder Puff Derby.” They experienced sexism, one commentator said, “The women didn’t look good in pants.” They also had to endure encounters with the public that bordered on the ridiculous. At one stop there was almost a collision between a landing plane and a car driven by sightseers.

 The first race for women over a significant distance, this event was a watershed for women in aviation. For it proved that they could fly a plane across land where there was little in the way of navigational infrastructure. This book describes a watershed moment in the history of aviation and the advancement of the opportunities for women.

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