Florence Klingensmith

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Florence Klingensmith (born September 3, 1904 as Florence Edith Gunderson in Oakport Township , Minnesota , † September 4, 1933 near Chicago ) was an American aviation pioneer . She was the first female pilot in North Dakota state , but died the day after her 29th birthday in a crash during an air race in Chicago.

Life

Florence Klingensmith was born in Minnesota in 1904 to Gustave and Florence Gunderson. In 1918 the family moved to Moorhead , where Florence soon became interested in adventurous activities such as skiing and motorcycling. After finishing school, she first worked as a courier driver. On June 25, 1927, she married Charles Klingensmith. The marriage ended in divorce in less than a year and a half, but Florence never returned to her maiden name.

On August 27, 1927, Charles Lindbergh visited nearby Fargo on his tour . Klingensmith, who had attended his appearance, was henceforth enthusiastic about aviation and decided to devote herself to this area. The following year she took courses in mechanics and took flight lessons. In the summer of 1928 she began parachuting under the guidance of her flight instructor EM Canfield and completed several jumps.

Later that year, Klingensmith began soliciting sponsorships for buying their own aircraft. By April 1929 she had raised enough funds to purchase a machine from the manufacturer Monocoupe Aircraft from Moline (Illinois) . Klingensmith named this aircraft "Miss Fargo" and took it on a summer barnstorming tour of the state after she became the first woman in North Dakota to acquire a pilot's license in June 1929 . In addition, she started taking part in air races .

In the following years, Klingensmith continued to do aerial acrobatics. On April 19, 1930, she set an unofficial record of 143 loops ; on June 22, 1931 an official 1078 loops. Klingensmith also made contacts in the aviation industry and in September 1930 became "Northern Division Traffic Manager" of American Eagle Airlines . Above all, however, she continued to take part in air races with increasing success. She won the National Air Races in Cleveland in 1931 in four competitions and in 1931 she won the Amelia Earhart Trophy .

In September 1933, Klingensmith became the first and only woman to compete in the Frank Phillips Trophy Race, which was advertised with prize money of $ 10,000 . Your aircraft was a Granville Brothers Senior Sportster , but the factory's 220 hp engine had been replaced by an engine with an output of more than 670 hp, which only allowed the machine to start in a competition without any restrictions on engine power. At the end of the 8th of ten laps of the race, Klingensmith was in 4th place when the aircraft, presumably due to structural failure, became uncontrollable and went off course. The machine crashed a few kilometers from the competition area. Klingensmith tried another emergency jump, but her parachute caught in the tailplane of the plane and she was killed in the impact.

Klingensmith was buried in Fargo in the Oakmound Cemetery. Although human error in the crash was ruled out, the organizers of the National Air Races used her accidental death as an opportunity to exclude women from future expenses. Other female aviators like Amelia Earhart protested by holding their own air races. Klingensmith was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Other information indicates an original output of 250 HP and conversion to 450 HP for this aircraft. See goldenageofaviation.org: Gee Bee Model-Y Senior Sportster , accessed December 5, 2016
  2. ↑ mnaviationhalloffame.org: Inductees: K , accessed December 5, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Klingensmith, Florence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gunderson, Florence Edith (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakport Township , Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH September 4, 1933
Place of death near Chicago