![Curtiss Robin St Louis 1929](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Curtiss_Robin_St_Louis_1929.jpg)
Helen Richey (November 21, 1909 – January 7, 1947) was a pioneering female aviator and the first woman to be hired as a
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
by a commercial
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
In 1933, she and her flying partner, Frances Harrell Marsalis, set a women's fueling endurance record of 237 hours and 42 minutes above the city of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in their airplane, the "Flying Boudoir."
Three years later, Richey set a women's international light plane record of 100 kilometers traveled in 55 minutes. As a co-pilot in the Bendix race that same year with
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
, she secured the women's light plane altitude record. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Richey became the first female pilot from
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania at the war front in Europe.
Formative years
Born in
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...
on November 21, 1909, Helen Richey was a daughter of Joseph Burdette Richey (1865-1947), the superintendent of schools in McKeesport from 1902 to 1935, and Amy Seal (Winter) Richey (1872-1943). She and her siblings, Dewayne Greenwood Richey (1892-1940), Amy Lucile (Richey) Gamble (1893-1977), Martha (Richey) Smith (1900-1981), and Joseph Winter Richey (1907-1976), spent many of their formative years in McKeesport.
A 1927 graduate of McKeesport High School,
Helen Richey was one of the few girls in McKeesport who wore pants during her teen years. She learned how to fly a plane at age 20. Her father subsequently bought her a Bird plane when she obtained her pilot's license.
Aviation career
In December 1933 Richey partnered with another female pilot,
Frances Marsalis, to set an endurance record by staying airborne for nearly 10 days over
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, with midair refueling. Their aircraft was a
Curtiss Thrush, named "Outdoor Girl" after its sponsor, a cosmetics brand.
Marsalis had previously set an endurance record the previous year with
Louise Thaden
Iris Louise McPhetridge Thaden (born Louise McPhetridge; November 12, 1905 – November 9, 1979) was an American aviation pioneer, holder of numerous aviation records, and the first woman to win the Bendix trophy, alongside Blanche Noyes. She was ...
in another Thrush. The refuelling was achieved by opening the central hatch, grabbing a dangling hose out of a
Curtiss Robin
The Curtiss Robin, introduced in 1928, was a high-wing monoplane built by the Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company.
The J-1 version was flown by Wrongway Corrigan who crossed the Atlantic after being refused permission.
Design
The ...
and shoving it into the gas tank, which Richey likened to "wrestling with a cobra in a hurricane". Marsalis was killed during the 1934 Women's Air Meet in Dayton.
In 1934 Richey won the premier air race at the first National Air Meet for women in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. Also in 1934,
Central Airlines
Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...
, a
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau (ecoregion), W ...
–based carrier that eventually became part of
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. , hired Richey as a pilot; she made her first regular civil flight with them on December 31, taking a
Ford Trimotor
The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...
on the
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
route. She eventually was forced to step down from the
cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...
by the all-male pilots union.
In May 1936, Helen Richey, flying a light plane, set an international altitude record for aircraft weighing under .
[Lynch, Adam, "Hometown Heroine," ''Aviation History'', March 2012, p. 56.] She reached
[ during a flight from Congressional Airport to Endless Caverns Airport in ]New Market New Market may refer to:
Bangladesh
*New Market, Dhaka
*New Market, Khulna, in Sonadanga Model Thana
*New Market, Chittagong, near Government City College, Chittagong
India
* New Market, Bhopal
*New Market, Kolkata
Jamaica
*New Market, Jama ...
, Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. Richey flew the same plane that Benjamin King had flown to break the record previously.[
After leaving Central Airlines, Richey continued to perform at ]air show
An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited.
They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground.
The largest air show m ...
s. In 1936 she teamed with Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
in a transcontinental air race, the Bendix Trophy Race
The Bendix Trophy is a U.S. aeronautical racing trophy. The transcontinental, point-to-point race, sponsored by industrialist Vincent Bendix founder of Bendix Corporation, began in 1931 as part of the National Air Races. Initial prize money f ...
. Richey and Earhart came in fifth, beating some all-male teams. Later, Richey flew with the British Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
After a year of ferrying British airplanes, Richey resigned from her Air Transport position on March 31, 1943, and returned home to McKeesport to be closer to her ailing mother, saying, "I felt mother needed me."
On September 11, 1943, Richey and professional golfer Helen Detweiler were awarded their Army Air Force wings at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas during a ceremony presided over by Jacqueline Cochran. Three weeks later, her mother died at their McKeesport home on October 2.
In 1944, Richey was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
(WASPs) and was stationed at the New Castle Army Air Base
New Castle National Guard Base is a United States Air Force installation under the control of the Delaware Air National Guard, located at New Castle Airport in New Castle County, Delaware.
Overview
The base is the home of the 166th Airlift Wi ...
in Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, where she was responsible for ferrying military planes to and from Canada.
In addition to being the first female commercial airline pilot, Richey also was the first woman sworn in to pilot air mail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...
and one of the first female flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...
s.
Accident and injury
Sometime during late May or early June of 1945, Richey injured her spine during an airplane accident. She spent several weeks recuperating at a private hospital in New York. Her sister, Amy, subsequently claimed that reports of Helen's accident and injury were untrue.
Death, funeral and interment
Richey died in her apartment in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on January 7, 1947, apparently from a pill overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' and ''The Montana Standard'' reported that she had been under the care of a physician for depression at the time of her death.
Her funeral was held in her hometown of McKeesport, Pennsylvania on January 10, 1947, and she was then interred at that community's Versailles Cemetery.[Helen Richey's Burial Tomorrow]
" Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: ''The Pittsburgh Press'', January 9, 1947, p. 21 (subscription required).
References
;Notes
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
External links
Belser, Ann. (2006, September 7). ''Historic McKeesport aviator to be profiled in documentary''. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Helen Richey biography
at San Diego Air & Space Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...
*
"Helen Richey: First Female Airline Pilot"
' a
Women In Aviation Resource Center
Helen Richey Collection
at San Diego Air & Space Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...
Archives
"Trilogy of Tales: Forgotten Pittsburghers". Pittsburgh Oddcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richey, Helen
People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania
1909 births
1947 suicides
Drug-related suicides in New York City
Flight endurance record holders
Commercial aviators
American aviation record holders
American women commercial aviators
Aviators from Pennsylvania
American flight instructors
American women flight instructors
American women aviation record holders
Suicides in New York City
Drug-related deaths in New York City
20th-century American women
1947 deaths
20th-century American people