Good Morning, Oppo

[ttyymmnn]

Golden Age FTW

Fokker Universal (cn 423 NC3193), the first airplane built in the US based on the designs of Dutchman Anthony Fokker, with an Auburn Boattail Speedster. The photo was taken at Long Beach, CA in 1932.

This photo came from the Gladys O’Donnell Collection at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Gladys O'Donnell (née Berry) was born March 2, 1904 in Whittier, California. At eighteen she married Lloyd O'Donnell, a car salesman who enjoyed flying airplanes. She soloed after 10 hours and in 1929, at the age of 25, became the first licensed woman pilot in Long Beach, California. That same year, Gladys participated in the first Women's Air Derby with only 40 hours of solo flying time. The nine-day race started in Santa Monica, California and concluded in Cleveland, Ohio. Gladys finished second behind another pioneering aviatrix, Louise Thaden. Each of the women who participated in that historic race - Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden, Phoebe Omlie, Ruth Elder, Blanche Noyes, Bobbi Trout and Gladys O'Donnell - opened doors for all women pilots. O'Donnell was also a charter member of the Nintey-Nines, and the first Governor of their Southwest Section.

Gladys O'Donnell, 1932 (SDASM)

[e90m3]

@ttyymmnn Those headlights look very Cord-esque, but then wasn't Cord and Auburn owned by the same parent company?

[ttyymmnn]

@e90m3 You'll have to ask somebody who knows more about cars.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

Fascinating. I've never heard that sort of thing referred to as an air derby before.

[onlytwowheels]

@e90m3 said in Good Morning, Oppo:

Cord and Auburn
Errett Lobban Cord bought out Auburn in 1925.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_Automobile

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Errett_Lobban_Cord

[fintail]

@e90m3 Those are "Woodlites", a period aftermarket item. You'll often see them on Ruxtons, another mostly forgotten interesting car of the era.