Defying gravity

As Rochester was propelling into the twentieth century for its next big thing (transitioning from the Flower City into a technological powerhouse), a local young woman was laying the groundwork to soar into her next big thing, too. And much like her hometown, the young protagonist’s next big thing would be followed by another big thing — and another, and another.

Enter: Blanche Stuart Scott.

She was born into wealth on April 8, 1885; Scott’s father made his fortune selling patent medicines and spoiled his daughter. She also arrived at a pivotal time. A unique contraption had debuted, promising freedom and thrills: the bicycle. By her early teens, Scott became adept at performing tricks on bicycles, and more adept at crashing them. Following her seventh crash, her father declared he would not buy another one.

Instead, he made the clearly logical decision to buy Scott an automobile.

A young Scott in one of her first automobiles. Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED.

Local patent attorney George B. Selden had just been issued the first U.S. patent for an automobile in 1895, and Rochester had set a speed limit to the breakneck pace of six miles per hour. Scott quickly gained a humble reputation as a terror behind the wheel, prompting an official warning from City Council to Scott’s father about her recklessness. Since Rochester had no official licensing requirements, Scott paid as much attention to the warning as she did to the preservation of her previous seven bicycles.

By 1910, Scott had moved to New York City. She took the unprecedented path of entering the workforce — and even more unprecedented, became an automobile salesperson, most likely the first woman to do so. Women rarely worked, let alone knew how to operate an automobile.

Scott sought to change this, and convinced the Willys-Overland Motor Company to sponsor her in doing so. What culminated was a national spectacle: a cross-country drive by a woman from New York City to San Francisco. Fellow thrill-seeker Alice Huyler Ramsey had completed the trek in 1909, claiming the title “first woman to drive across America,” though that didn’t stop Scott in the slightest.

The “Lady Overland,” as her vehicle was christened, endured over 5,500 miles of rough trails, enjoying the luxury of pavement in only a few cities. Blanche and her passenger, journalist Gertrude Phillips, finished in 10 weeks, celebrating by pouring a bottle of Atlantic Ocean water into the Pacific. Afterward, an enterprising entrepreneur approached Scott with an idea: trade her tires for wings and become the first U.S. woman passenger in an airplane.

Hobbyist aviator Charles F. Willard was to be Scott’s pilot while in California, but a storm destroyed the aircraft the day before the planned flight. Since the Associated Press writer had already submitted the story of the young woman’s first flight (in order to meet his deadline) Scott was still celebrated and drew the attention of the Curtiss Flying Exhibition Company.

Frank Tipton, a press agent for Curtiss, convinced Scott to try her hand at flying, and she enthusiastically made her way to Hammondsport in the nearby Finger Lakes region. Initially, Glenn Curtiss was bewildered, as he had been out of the country when Tipton made his offer. Curtiss was plagued by thoughts of bad publicity, but eventually allowed Scott in his school, to be taught by Curtiss himself. In a stroke of cosmic coincidence, Glenn Curtiss started in bicycle development before aviation (though Scott was never unleashed onto any unsuspecting pedal bikes while under Curtiss’ direction).

On a late August morning in 1910, Scott unexpectedly made aviation history. Before she took the pilot’s seat, Curtiss had placed a wooden block behind the plane’s throttle to limit its ability to fly. For reasons unknown, the limiter slipped while taxiing, and a gust of wind lifted Scott’s plane 25 feet into the air. She maintained control and gracefully landed the airplane without incident, making history as the first U.S. woman to pilot a flight. She made a more intentional flight on September 6, soaring 150 feet into the sky, turning twice and landing safely. (This predates fellow pioneer Bessica Raiche’s famous flight by 10 days, and even Raiche credited Scott as the first U.S. woman aviator.)

Scott went on to achieve even more firsts: as the first woman to fly publicly on October 23, 1910 in Fort Wayne, Indiana; as the first woman stunt pilot (for Thomas Baldwin’s 1911 exhibition team); as the first U.S. woman to make a long distance flight (60 miles: from Nassau, NY to Central Islip, NY and back in 1911); as the first woman test pilot (for Glenn Martin in 1912); and as the first woman to pilot an aircraft in film (1912’s “The Aviator and the Autoist Race for a Bride”).

Her flying career was cut short when she faced abrupt retirement on Memorial Day 1913 in Madison, Wisconsin. As Scott’s plane took off, rising 200 feet and beginning a turn, the throttle wire snapped, causing a catastrophic crash. Scott was thrown 30 feet from the plane, breaking more than 40 bones, and spent eight months recovering in a cast. She retired in 1916 at age 31, disheartened by the ever-growing morbid crowd expectations of crashes or death at aerial exhibitions.

For the next 32 years, Scott did the unthinkable: she domesticated herself. She married a millionaire, founded a film studio on Long Island, moved to Hollywood as a script writer for major film studios and only returned to Rochester in 1930 to care for her ailing mother.

Scott attended the National Air Races wearing her ‘Early Bird’ checkered cap in 1954. Credit: SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM.

But aviation was not finished with Scott yet. On September 6, 1948, she was invited to Cleveland to take a ride in an early prototype for the U.S. Air Force. This achieved yet another first, as she was the first national civilian woman passenger in a jet plane. Her pilot was a kindred spirit, Chuck Yeager, the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound. Supposedly, Yeager knew exactly who Blanche was, and treated her to snap rolls and a 14,000 foot death dive, which it can be assumed she absolutely loved.

That experience must have reinvigorated Scott’s flying spirit, as she then began to work for the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, traveling the world collecting artifacts from aviation’s early days. During those early days, she was prophetically quoted in the New York Herald on July 16, 1911, saying: “Women should wake up and take a serious, intelligent, articulate, practical interest in what makes the world tick.”

After fearlessly living that advice herself, Scott died at Genesee Hospital on January 12, 1970, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery on Lake Avenue. Her indomitable spirit continues to further her legacy: elevating aviation history and inspiring women who will not be stopped in pursuing adventure.

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