Walking on Air (29 page)

40
. The first recorded parachute jump from an airplane was executed by Grant Morton, who jumped from a Wright Model B airplane flying over Venice Beach, California, in 1911. He carried his folded parachute in his arms; as he jumped, he threw his folded canopy into the air. The parachute opened and he landed safely. Australian Parachute Federation, “History of the Parachute,”
www.apf.asn.au/history
.

41
.
The Omlie Story
, 72.

42
. Throughout her career, every story about Phoebe asserts that she launched her career with a $4,000 inheritance from her grandfather. In her memoirs, she confesses that she gave reporters that “white lie” to cover up the real terms of the deal made with her mother. She claims that her father never suspected the truth as she paid off the loan rather rapidly and always made the payments at Christmastime so as not to arouse his suspicions.
The Omlie Story
, 35–36, 39–48.

43
. Ibid., 44–45.

44
. Ibid., 54–61.

45
. Ibid., 61–65.

46
. Ibid., 67–68.

47
. Omlie enlisted in the infantry in June 1916 and served with Pershing on the Mexican border chasing Pancho Villa. He transferred to the Air Service when war came in 1917, learned flying at Kelly Field in San Antonio; he later transferred to Ellington Field outside Houston where he became a bombing instructor, serving there until his discharge in April 1919. Biographical data form for
The International Cyclopedia of Aviation Biography
, completed by Omlie, 28 February 1930; summary in Phoebe's Personnel File, apparently submitted to secure civil service classification in 1939, Omlie Collection.

48
. Allard and Sandvick,
Minnesota Aviation History
, 42, 61–63, 94.

49
. From essay by Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, “About the Author,” in her unpublished manuscript
The Silent Majority Speaks Out
, Omlie Collection.

50
. The Non-Partisan League (an organization with which Charles Lindbergh's father was connected) was formed in 1915 to lobby political parties on behalf of farmers; it
was especially active in Minnesota and North Dakota. Its influence faded following the indictment and conviction of Townley and his manager Joseph Gilbert for opposing the war effort and discouraging the sale of Liberty Bonds. Motions for a new trial were denied by the Supreme Court. See unattributed clipping, 24 October 1919, Omlie Collection.

51
.
The Omlie Story
, 70.

52
. Phoebe was barely five feet tall and not quite 100 pounds.
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
, 10 July 1921. Glenn Messer, who flew stunts with Phoebe, pegged her weight at 86 pounds. Messer interview, IWASM.

53
.
The Omlie Story
, 71–75.

54
. Charles E. Planck,
Women with Wings
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942), 55.

55
.
The Omlie Story
, 79–80.

56
. Ibid., 83–84.

57
. Ibid., 80–82.

58
. Vernon began work for Curtiss-Northwest on 1 April 1920 for $25 a week and $35 expenses; Vernon Omlie Datebook, Omlie Collection.

59
. While some jumpers tied the chute to a wing strut, this made the plane extra unstable due to the interruption of airflow over the wings.

60
.
The Omlie Story
, 87–91.

61
. Ibid., 86.

62
. Ibid., 90–92. Phoebe Fairgrave, “Jumps I Have Made,”
The M
, February 1922, 23–24.

63
. One of them was Lena Hickok, then working for the
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
. This is the same Lorena Hickok who served as first lady Eleanor Roosevelt's traveling companion during the New Deal. Phoebe reconnected with Hickok when she campaigned for FDR in 1936; Hickok was then working for the National Democratic Committee. See
The Omlie Story
, 99, 101.

64
.
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
, 18 April 1921;
St. Paul Pioneer Press
, 19 April 1921.

65
. There apparently was a good deal of jealousy and animus between Paul and Vernon. Paul allegedly once told Phoebe that if she married Vernon, he would never speak to her again. Whether for this reason, or others, Phoebe and Paul were estranged for the rest of their lives. Telephone interview by author with Phoebe's niece, Deloris Navrkal, 5 November 2007; Messer interview, IWASM.

66
. Vernon Omlie Datebook, Omlie Collection.
The Omlie Story
, 102.

67
.
The Omlie Story
, 29–31. By 1921, David Wark Griffith, Associated First National Pictures, Goldwyn Film Company, Selznick Pictures Corporation, Universal Film Company, and William Fox Studios were producing films in which flying and airplanes were an essential part of the action. See Jim and Maxine Greenwood,
Stunt Flying in the Movies
(Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1982), 38–41.

68
.
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
, 10 July 1921.

69
. Charley Hardin probably taught her this trick. Charles Lindbergh, during his barnstorming days in 1925, did a double parachute drop with a Hardin parachute. Fairgrave,
The M
, February 1922, 23.

70
. Fairgrave,
The M
, February 1922, 23–24. See also yellow typed notes dated 15 December 1934, Omlie Collection.

71
.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
, 11 May 1921.

72
.
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
, 10 July 1921.

73
. She wrote, “I was supposed to be fortunate in having basketball shoes on—the rubber attracting the current and the hole in the shoe permitting it to go out. How true this is I do not know.” Phoebe's account of the accident in handwritten notes, Omlie Collection.

74
. He did put it in the papers,
Des Moines Register
, 30 July 1921.

75
. Phoebe's handwritten notes, Omlie Collection.

76
. Ibid. See also Charles Land Callen, “There's No Stopping a Woman with Courage Like This,”
American Magazine
, August 1929, 144. In response to requests for biographical information about his wife, Vernon Omlie referred inquirers to this article.

77
.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
, 11 July 1921; Fairgrave, “Jumps I Have Made,” 23–24.

78
.
Des Moines Evening Tribune
, 11 July 1921.

79
. Mabel Cody was Buffalo Bill's niece. Ron Dick and Dan Patterson,
Aviation Century: The Golden Age
(Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 2004), 204.

80
. Letter, Phoebe Omlie to Louise Thaden, 5 June 1973, Omlie Collection.

81
. List of “towns made during the 1921 season,” Omlie Collection.

82
. The term “barnstorming” came from traveling theatrical groups who often performed in barns. Dominick A. Pisano, “The Greatest Show Not on Earth: The Confrontations between Utility and Entertainment in Aviation,” in
The Airplane in American Culture
, ed. Pisano (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003), 51.

83
. Their net profit for the summer of 1921 was $159.32. Vernon Omlie's Datebook lists expenses and income, Omlie Collection.

84
. Undated clipping from Quincy, Illinois, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

85
. Messer interview, IWASM.

86
. Yellow typed notes, 15 December 1934, Omlie Collection; story also recounted by Planck,
Women with Wings
, 53–55, and referenced in Messer interview, IWASM.

87
.
Memphis Evening Appeal
, 28 March 1929.

88
.
Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger-Journal
, 5 August 1921. Yellow typed notes, 15 December 1934, Omlie Collection; Planck,
Women with Wings
, 53–55.

89
. Undated story by John White, photocopy in Personnel File, Omlie Collection.

90
. Unattributed newspaper clipping, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

91
. Glenn Messer indicated that Phoebe worked with him on at least one film entitled “Price of Honor.” Messer interview, IWASM.

92
.
Mexico (Missouri) Intelligencer
, 20 October 1921, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

93
.
Fairfield (Iowa) Daily Ledger-Journal
, 5 August 1921; other unattribued and undated clippings, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

94
. Undated clipping from Cedar Rapids, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

95
.
Des Moines Register
, 30 July 1921, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

96
. In 1923 alone, 85 barnstormers died in 179 recorded accidents. In the five-year period, 1921–1925, 354 people lost their lives in aircraft accidents. Dick and Patterson,
The Golden Age
, 204; Komons,
Bonfires to Beacons
, 23; Pisano,
The Airplane in American Culture
, 57.

97
. Clippings in Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

98
. “Harrison—Obit on Phoebe Fairgrave, written March 21, 1922” in
St. Paul Dispatch
files, St. Paul, Minnesota.

99
. Paul Fairgrave left the group in late summer; the last entry about him was on 29 August in Vernon's Datebook; “About the Author,”
The Silent Majority Speaks Out
, Omlie Collection. Messer established the first flying field at Birmingham. He soloed Lindbergh when he sold the young flier his first Jenny. The Birmingham Museum of Flight has an extensive collection and exhibit space dedicated to his career. Messer died 13 June 1995 at the age of one hundred.

100
. Unattributed clipping, 4 November 1921, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

101
.
Cairo (Illinois) Bulletin
, 5 December 1921, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

102
.
Memphis News-Scimitar
, 30 December 1921; poster in Omlie Collection.

103
. Park Field had been decommissioned by the government in 1919, buildings were torn down and the site turned to agriculture. So it stayed until 1942 when another war prompted the U.S. Navy to establish an aviation base there. John Norris, “Park Field—World War I Pilot Training School,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
(1977): 75–76; “About the Author,” Omlie Collection.

104
.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
, 19 February 1922.

105
. Western Union Telegrams, 14 February 1922 and 17 February 1922, Scrapbook. Interestingly, only a month later, Ruth Law abruptly retired. When the press asked why she quit, Law responded, “Because I'm a normal woman and want a home, a baby and everything else that goes with married life.” She'd been married for ten years to Charlie Oliver, her business manager, who apparently asked her to stop. “It was a matter of choosing between love and profession. Of course, I'm crazy about flying. But one's husband is more important … It's my husband's turn now,” she said. “I've been in the limelight long enough. I'm going to let him run things hereafter and me, too.”
Waterloo (Iowa) Times-Tribune
, 22 March 1922. Ruth Law died in 1970 at age eighty-three.

106
.
St. Paul Daily News
, 26 March 1922.

107
. Newspaper clippings, Scrapbook, Omlie Collection.

1
. “If it hadn't been for the Isele brothers, who managed the old Arlington Hotel, now the Claridge, we would have been completely out.” Phoebe interview with Betty Jeanne Claffey,
Commercial Appeal
, 11 October 1945.

2
. Vernon Omlie's presence at Park Field during the war was revealed in an advertisement for his operation at the new Memphis Municipal Airport; ad in
Commercial Appeal
, 14 June 1929, 14. In his history of Park Field, John Norris notes that when Park Field opened in November 1917, 300 men were transferred from Kelly Field in San Antonio; Omlie was stationed at Kelly Field during this period. Norris, “Park Field,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
, 65, 71.

3
. Joseph J. Corn,
The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900–1950
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 34.

4
. In addition to Corn, see Robert Wohl,
A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908–1918
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 2.

5
. Corn,
The Winged Gospel
, 5–8; Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 19.

6
. Glenn Curtiss and the Wright Brothers both formed exhibition companies to promote sales of their airplanes in 1909. Tom D. Crouch,
Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age
(New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2003), 142; Corn,
The Winged Gospel
, 9.

7
. The French led aviation development during this period, organized the first aviation competition, hosted the first aviation exhibition, opened the first flight training schools, and led the world in the manufacture of airplanes prior to 1914. Almost every innovation to flying machines between 1908 and 1914 originated in France. Wilbur Wright tested and demonstrated his invention in France in 1908. Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 2, 20; Dick and Patterson,
The Golden Age
, 36.

8
. At Rheims, twenty-two aviators flew ten different types of airplanes; 500,000 paid attendance while thousands more watched from the surrounding hills. A detailed description of the meet at Rheims in Wohl,
A Passion for Wings
, 100–110.

9
. Bleriot crossed the English Channel on 25 July 1909; Rheims Air Meet began 22 August; the two men competed against each other on 28 August. This was the first time airplanes raced around a circuit that was marked with prominent towers called pylons. Bill Gunston,
Aviation: The First 100 Years
(Hauppauge NY: Barron's, 2002), 32. Note that $5,000 in 1909 had the same purchasing power as $122,000 in 2010. See measuringworth.com for conversion tables.