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The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly known.
The inaugural Women’s Air Derby was part of the 1929 National Air Races and was a momentous occasion for women and for aeronautics. Although the pioneer aviatrix were fierce competitors, they were totally united in their effort to force open the door to the male pilots’ world.
The First Women's Air Derby was a transcontinental race that began in Santa Monica, California, and culminated in Cleveland, Ohio, for the 1929 Cleveland National Air Races. Amelia Earhart, Pancho Barnes, Louise Thaden, Bobbi Trout and other women aviators of the era brought international attention to women in aviation.
The 1948 and 1949 Jacqueline Cochran All-Woman Transcontinental Air Races (AWTAR) were the formal beginning of what would become popularly known as the Powder Puff Derby, a reference to the 1929 Women's Air Derby by humorist and aviation advocate Will Rogers.
18 lip 2019 · Louise Thaden, Gladys O’Connell and Ruth Nichols, pioneer female aviators during the first women’s transcontinental air derby in 1929. Thaden won the race. | Courtesy of Saint Louis University Libraries.
Humorist Will Rogers dubbed it “The Powder Puff Derby,” but those in the 1929 Women’s National Air Derby, the first sanctioned race for female pilots, took it quite seriously. Flying from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, 15 of 20 finished (Earhart placed third), proving women could handle a rugged cross-country race.
Over nine days and 2,800 miles, the best women aviators in the nation competed in a cross-country race from Santa Monica, CA to Cleveland, OH. The race was called the National Women’s Air Derby of 1929, although male journalists gave it a different name – the Powder Puff Derby.
