2015.25.4

Admiral Richard Byrd (1888-1957) was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. Byrd claimed that his expeditions had been the first to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole by air. Admiral Byrd is shown here at East Boston Airport with Massachusetts Governor Allen, Boston Mayor Nichols, Native Americans and a welcoming crowd.

Ruth Elder (1902- 1977) was an aviation pioneer and actress. She carried private pilot certificate P675, and was known as the "Miss America of Aviation". She was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines. In 1927 she took off from New York in the airplane American Girl with George Haldeman as her pilot, in an attempt to become the first woman transatlantic airplane rider. Mechanical problems caused them to ditch the plane 360 miles from land, but they established a new over-water endurance flight record of 2,623 miles.

The WB-2 Columbia was introduced at the 1926. The sole Wright-Bellanca WB-2, named Columbia, Miss Columbia, and later Maple Leaf, was the second in a series of aircraft designed by Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, initially for Wright Aeronautical then later Columbia Aircraft Company.

Pilot Stultz and Levine: Charles A. Levine was the first passenger on board a transatlantic flight 2/27/1928. Levine and Bellanca formed the Colombia Aircraft Company.