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| Title | Aviator Ruth Elder, Seattle, 1929 |
| Photographer | Staff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Date | 1929 |
| Caption | Attempting to follow the legendary New York to Paris transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, aviators Ruth Elder and George Haldeman took off from New York on October 11, 1927 in a Stinson monoplane, The American Girl. Experiencing mechanical problems about 800 miles west of Paris, they dropped a message to a Dutch tanker, the Barendrecht, asking how far it was to the nearest land. The Dutch crewman painted the answer on the deck; Elder and Haldeman landed in the ocean and were rescued by the tanker crew. The plane burst into flames and sank just as it was to be raised aboard the ship. Receiving a hero's welcome in both Paris and New York despite their failure, Elder went on to earn a comfortable living from films and other appearances. She died at the age of 74 attended to by her sixth husband in the week of the 50th anniversary of the flight.
In this 1929 photograph taken after the attempted transatlantic flight, Elder is posing next to a plane with young admirers looking on, presumably at an appearance in Seattle. |
| Notes | Handwritten on image: Elder Ruth.
Caption information sources: Aero Digest; Museum of Flight vertical files.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): June 27, 1929. |
| Subjects | Air pilots--Washington (State)--Seattle; Airplanes--Washington (State)--Seattle; Children--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Personal Names | Elder, Ruth |
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital Collection | Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection |
| Image Number | 1986.5G.615.3 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph. |
| Credit Line | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved |
| Repository | Museum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI) |
| Repository Collection | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Physical Description | 1 glass negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3. |
