MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS
JOHNNY SAVES THE DAY By the time Thaden had reached Wichita, she was in the lead and had a good chance to win the race. While she slept that night, someone filed down the points of her Travel Air’s magneto so that it either would
not start or if it did, would not run properly. It was clearly an act of sabotage. Thaden later recalled that, “Johnny, my hard-working mechanic, had discovered them at the last moment.” After Burke made repairs, Thaden brushed away the dark reality
that someone had placed her in danger and she took off for routine flights through Indiana and Ohio. At Columbus, a steam roller
appeared at the end of the runway as Nichols landed. The collision destroyed her Rearwin aircraft, reducing the number of contestants to 15.
At Cleveland, 18,000 spectators
cheered as Thaden came across the finish line. She was first, with O’Donnell in her Waco as second. Earhart took third. Omlie finished first in the light plane division. It could be argued that each of the women who finished the race had won an endurance test worthy of any male flier. The original derby is now called
the Air Race Classic, open to any licensed female pilot with a fixed- wing aircraft powered by a 100-570hp engine. The 2016 race is nicknamed the “Collegiate Cross-Country” because it starts at Prescott Municipal Airport (PRC) in Arizona on June 21 and ends at Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) in Florida on June 24, where Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University has its two main campuses. Fly-by and fuel stops en route are planned in New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Giacinta Bradley Koontz
is an aviation historian, magazine columnist and author who has received the DAR History Medal
and honorable mention from the New York Book Festival. She has appeared on the History Channel and in PBS documentaries. For more information, visit
www.GiaBKoontz.com.
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