![]() US #5281-82 were issued for the 100th anniversary of airmail in 2018. She went on to work as an architect in Santa Fe, New Mexico, before her death on July 8, 1977. After she returned to the United States, Stinson was struck with tuberculosis and needed a less active profession, leading her to retire from flying in 1920. Unfortunately, the cold weather and poor wartime conditions took a toll on her health. Though she had been unable to fly for the military during World War I, Stinson was accepted as an ambulance driver. ![]() Item #113830 – Commemorative cover honoring Katherine Stinson. Later that year, Stinson would become the first female pilot to deliver airmail in Canada. Stinson had to wait eight days for replacement propellers to complete her flight, which she finally did on May 31. It also bested her own previous endurance record from the previous year. Stinson’s airmail flight beat the previous distance record set by Ruth Law in 1916. US #C1-150 – Get a complete collection of US airmail stamps with FREE mounts. Although she was disappointed, she had still accomplished a major feat. Unfortunately, the field she had landed in was very muddy, making it hard to make a smooth landing and the plane toppled, smashing the propeller and damaging a wing. However, she had to stop in Binghamton for fuel. She had hoped to make the complete flight to New York City that day to break the world’s nonstop distance record. On May 23, she departed Chicago and flew 783 miles in 10 hours before landing in Binghamton, New York. (Previous flights were experimental or not officially sanctioned). In 1918, Stinson became the first woman commissioned by the US post office to carry airmail. She also set a Canadian distance and endurance record. On December 11, 1917, Stinson set the American non-stop distance record, flying 606 miles from San Diego to San Francisco. Instead, she helped train pilots at her family’s school and flew fundraising tours for the American Red Cross. Stinson tried to serve as a combat pilot during World War I, but was denied. US #702 was issued for the 50th anniversary of the American Red Cross. She was the first person, man or woman, to fly at night and the first to perform night skywriting. Stinson also performed tricks at night, using flares attached to her plane’s wingtips. In 1915, she became the first woman to perform a loop and created the “Dippy Twist Loop,” a loop with a snap roll at the top. Katherine Stinson became known as the “Flying Schoolgirl” and earned widespread attention for her daring aviation feats, earning up to $500 per appearance. Her sister Marjorie also flew an early experimental airmail route in Texas in 1915, for which she is sometimes considered the first female airmail pilot. The following year she became the first woman to carry the US mail when she dropped mailbags over the Montana State Fair. In 1912, at the age of 21, Stinson became just the fourth woman in the country to earn her pilot’s license. Her brother Eddie was an airplane manufacturer and her family ran a flight school. On May 23, 1918, Katherine Stinson became the first woman hired by the post office to deliver airmail in the US.īorn February 14, 1891, in Fort Payne, Alabama, Katherine’s family played an important role in early aviation. First Commissioned Female Airmail Pilot US #C3 – The airmail stamp in use at the time of Stinson’s flight.
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