Marvel Crosson
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Marvel Crosson was a pioneer aviator, and the first female pilot to earn a commercial license in the Territory of Alaska. She worked in both California and Alaska and died in a crash during the first
Crosson in the cockpit of a Ryan Brougham, ca. 1929
Women's Air Derby
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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, th
Marvel Crosson
…female pilot to earn a commercial license in the Territory of Alaska. She worked in both California and Alaska and died in a crash during the first Women's Air Derby. She was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2011. She was born to Esler Crosson and his wife Elizabeth Wynant Crosson in Warsaw, Indiana…
From left to right: Louise Thaden, Bobbi Trout, Patty Willis, Marvel Crosson, Blanche Noyes, Vera Dawn Walker, Amelia Earhart, Marjorie Crawford, Ruth Elder, and Pancho Barnes, in front of NC229K, de Havilland DH.60 Moth (c/n 41); at the Breakfast Club, Los Angeles, California, before the start of the race
Pancho Barnes (fourth from the left) and the Powder Puff Derby at Long Beach, California