Page:The Fun of It.pdf/215

Rh By the way, her son has had many hours in the air and he isn’t yet two. But so have most of the young children of air families.

One of the most picturesque of present-day women flyers is diminutive Laura Ingalls. She started to learn to fly at an eastern field, as I understand, but the instructors there discouraged her. They tried, at least, But Miss Ingalls doesn’t stay discouraged long, So she transferred her activities to another school and thence in due course emerged with a license.

Especially notable is her ability as an aerial acro­bat. She established a feminine record for loops with 980 of them consecutively, doing it as an ex­hibition and receiving a dollar a loop. Later she tried barrel rolls and succeeded in making 714 of these which is the record for both sexes.

Some critics protest against such exhibitions. I myself cannot see what harm they do. Certainly their execution requires sturdy equipment and skill and determination on the part of the pilot. They may not point the way to progress in aviation but they demonstrate its possibilities. As for women’s doing them, that probably will be necessary for some time—for contrary to legal precedent, they (women) are considered guilty of incompetence until proved otherwise.