Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race

(Paperback)

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In 1929, nineteen women set out from Santa Monica, in flimsy, prop-driven planes, with a mission...Their mission: to be the first to cover the 2,759-mile cross-country course to Cleveland, Ohio. Dubbed "The Powder Puff Derby" by humorist Will Rogers, who covered the race, the competition was aggressive, dangerous, and enthralling to the millions who followed its progress.

Author Bio

In the summer of 1961 while working her way through the University of Oklahoma on the faculty teaching flying, Gene Nora (pronounced Janora) participated in a female astronaut research program at the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque. Though Gene Nora was among the thirteen women (light-heartedly tagged the "Mercury 13") who passed the physical exams, further testing was cancelled.
In 1962, she flew as a sales demonstration pilot for the Beech Aircraft factory in Wichita, Kansas. Initially, she flew one of the Three Musketeers, flying formation across forty-eight states in ninety days as a promotional event to introduce the new Beech Musketeer. The job evolved into additional flight ratings and flying the entire Beech line. She met her husband Bob at Beech, and they eventually migrated west to become a Beech dealer in Boise, Idaho, Gene Nora operating their flight school.
Gene Nora has remained active in aviation, serving on the Boise Airport Commission; as President of the Ninety-Nines; on various community boards; participating in the founding of two aviation museums; racing the Bonanza, and, not incidentally, raising two children. The Jessens own an active fixed-base operation at the Boise airport, and, of course, they continue to fly.