Obit of the Day: “The Fastest Woman On Earth”
Betty Skelton had no fear. Whether in the cockpit or the driver’s seat, Ms. Skelton focused on one thing only: speed. Taking flying lessons beginning at age ten, she found her first thrills in the twists and turns of “aerobatics.” Ms. Skelton could do things with a plane few had seen before, especially by a woman. She would fly upside down, ten feet from the ground, and cut a ribbon with her propeller to open an event. She would take a non-pressurized, non-insulated Piper Cub to the highest altitude ever, over 29,000 feet. (“I usually fly bare-footed, so my feet darn near froze to death.”) She flew a Mustang P-51 at an unoffical speed of 421 MPH, but after the engine exploded and she was able to bring the plane down the record didn’t count since she didn’t land where she took off. Her first open cockpit plane, “The Little Stinker,” hangs in the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - upside down.
When she stopped flying, she began driving, and the milestones kept piling up. She was the first woman to drive a pace car at the Indianapolis 500 in 1957. She set long-distance driving records from New York to Los Angeles (56 hours, 57 minutes) and Argentina to Chile (41 hours, 14 minutes). She became the first female test driver for Chevrolet, beginning with the Corvette. (She drove a red model for the rest of her life.) She set land speed records at both Daytona Beach, FL and the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
In the miscellaneous category, Ms. Skelton became the first woman boat jumper (see above) at Cyrpress Gardens in Florida. While the first seven Mercury astronauts were undergoing rigorous tests to prepare them for space flight so was Ms. Skelton. She passed them all, and the Mercury 7 dubbed her “7 1/2.” Ms. Skelton, who was 85, was inducted into eleven different halls of fame, including the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame.
She joins Faye Blackstone (trick horserider) and Mary Alfonsi (professional wrestler) in the coincidental “Awesome Women & High-Risk Activities” triumverate.
(Image courtesy of allhatnocattle.com)
(via obitoftheday)