LAURA BROMWELL 1898-1921

LAURA BROMWELL      "Laura Bromwell learned to fly by joining the New York Aerial Police Reserve. Many women pilots favored military-style uniforms, especially in the immediate aftermath of World War I." Photograph and caption from the book FLYING HIGH originally from the archives of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES via email from Gian Picco, 10-19-05      I had a chance to find a bit more information on one of the aviatrices pictured in one of the books, (FLYING HIGH), that I had sent you: Laura Bromwell      She was said to be the first female flyer to get her license after WWI. During the War, a ban on civilian flying prevented women from getting their license. At least that has been named as a reason why Netta Snook didn't get hers until later than 1918.      Laura Bromwell is listed as having made a world record in the number of consecutive loops, 199.      She enlisted in the Aerial Police Section of the NYPD. This unit was later absorbed into the NY Air Service Reserves of the USN. It happened awhile after Laura Bromwell had fatally crashed.      Laura Bromwell does not seem to have been the only aviatrix peforming Police duties from the air: I found documentation, (including a photo), that a Miss Hazel Riley had flown from February through September, (and maybe even later than that), for the Oakland Police Department.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Laura Bromwell", using the Google search engine, (10-23-05), you will find displayed about 172 links! Fully 100 of them simply announce the sale of a print, " Aviatrix Laura Bromwell Powdering Her Face." Fourteen of the remaining 72 speak of her relationship with Ruth Law, as one of the members of her Flying Circus. Ten more of the remaining 72 record the fact that she is remembered for setting a world's record for looping the loop. If you are sufficiently interested, I suggest that you visit as many as time permits.

 
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RECOMMENDED READING

FLYING HIGH PIONEER WOMEN IN AMERICAN AVIATION   Charles R. Mitchell and Kirk W. House   Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC) (July, 2002) Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.3 inches List :Price: $19.99 Language: English ISBN: 073851022X

Book Description: In the beginning of the twentieth century, women were demanding more freedom. What could bring more freedom than a chance to fly? Women went up in those early wire-and-fabric contraptions to gain independence, to make money, or to make their names as pilots. They sought to prove that women pilots could do just as well as menóand some did far better. Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation tells the story of Blanche Stuart Scott, who made $5,000 a week and broke forty-one bones; of Harriet Quimby, who flew the English Channel handily and then fell to her death in five feet of water near Boston Harbor; of Ruth Law and Katherine Stinson, who set American distance flying records - all before any of them were allowed to vote. Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation also tells the tales of women behind the scenes - the financiers, engineers, and factory workers - from the earliest days of flying to victory in World War II. These stories of the first female flyers are told in rare, vintage photographs, many previously unpublished, from the archives of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum. About the Authors: Professional photographer Charles R. Mitchell, who is retired from Corning Inc., is associated with the Oliver House Museum in Penn Yan, New York. He is the author of Penn Yan and Keuka Lake, Hammondsport and Keuka Lake, and with coauthor Kirk W. House, Glenn H. Curtiss: Aviation Pioneer. Kirk W. House, a former teacher and school administrator, is curator of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York, and a historian member of the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers.

Laura Bromwell died in a crash on June 5, 1921.   Editor's Note: If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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