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Press photograph for the refueling endurance flight attempted by two women aviators
1929réf. 17575Underwood and Underwood n.d. 1929 On January 2 1929 Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout 1906 – 2003 set the women's endurance flight record with a time of twelve hours and eleven minutes. The record didn't last a month however before being beaten by Elinor Smith 1911 – 2010 by over an hour. The next month Trout reclaimed the record with a seventeen-hour flight; in April Smith smashed the record with a time of twenty-six hours. Trout and Smith's rivalry led them to collaboration: while participating in the Women's Transcontinental Air Derby in the summer of 1929 they agreed to attempt a month-long endurance flight. The present photo commemorates their first attempt which took place in November of 1929. Though Trout and Smith were able to successfully refuel the plane while in the air three times mechanical issues grounded them after forty-two hours. They set the women's endurance flight record with the time. The photograph shows aviator Bobbi Trout warming up the motor of a Commercial Aircraft Corporation "Sunbeam" plane at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport where Trout and Elinor Smith took off on their refueling endurance flight. The typewritten commentary suggests the headline "BOBBIE sic TROUT AND ELEANOR sic SMITH BURY THE HATCHET IN PREPARATION FOR REFUELING ENDURANCE FLIGHT. Photograph 10" x 8" with leaf of typewritten commentary by Underwood and Underwood adhered to verso at bottom edge. Some toning to edges and verso and some wear to the commentary leaf. Very good. Both Trout and Smith had illustrious aviation careers. Trout set an altitude record for light-class aircraft in June of 1929 and set another women's endurance flight record in 1931 by spending over 122 hours in the air with actress Edna Mae Cooper. Alongside Amelia Earhart Phoebe Omlie Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes Trout co-founded the Ninety-Nines an organization for women pilots. Trout also co-founded founded the Women's Air Reserve with Pancho Barnes. Underwood and Underwood,
