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The Great Flight

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"When Miss Elder and I started our flight we wanted it to be a success for commercial aviation and for the interest of flying in general, and although we did not reach our goal, we hope that our trip will in some way be a benefit to flying in the future."- George Haldeman, New York Times 

The transatlantic flight was set to take off around sunset on October 11, 1927. Elder and pilot George Haldeman took off in a Stinson monoplane, which was christened "The American Girl." The route they charted differed from Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris, placing their flight-line southward and adding on an additional 400 miles, which they readily accepted on account of the good weather conditions. Their total mileage was about 3600 over water. 

While it is fair to say that Haldeman did most of the flying, Elder was indeed copilot and had to fly the plane from time to time. She notes some of the difficulties they encountered while making the journey, like the moment when she had to crawl to the rear of the plane in total darkness, and empty out five-gallon jugs of gasoline into the tank. Naturally, this took plane in a confined space, therefore it is worthy to point out the fumes she and Haldeman would have been inhaling while she attempted to do this.   

Due to a leaking oil pipe, the American Girl had to make an emergency landing some 350 miles shy of the coast near the Azores. They "landed" in the ocean, and were luckily spotted by a Dutch freight ship, which rescued them within the hour of their landing. Although they did not make it all the way to land, the distance they covered was about the same as Lindbergh, making Elder the first female pilot to fly such a length over water. 
 

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