Lecture Date: April 14, 2020
The Gemini 3 Group Lecture
Everyone knows the name Amelia Earhart. But the other four women in O’Brien’s story were, in some cases, better pilots and their stories are no less compelling. O’Brien recounts for us the amazing exploits of Ruth Elder, the first American woman try to fly across the Atlantic Ocean after Lindbergh’s feat in 1927; Ruth Nichols, a New York pilot desperate to escape her blue-blood background; Louise Thaden, a mother of two; and perhaps the most skilled of them all, Florence Klingensmith. Fly Girls has adventure, and heroics, tragedy and triumph, and insight into the battles that women fought to participate in one of America’s most dangerous sports — airplane racing.
Speaker: Keith O'Brien Cancelled due to COVID-19
Award-winning journalist Keith O’Brien has a talent for bringing to life the stories of ordinary people trying to achieve great things. His most recent book, Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, tells the suspenseful story of the women who cracked aviation’s glass ceiling in the 1920s and ’30s and won the right to race airplanes. He is also the author of Outside Shot: Big Dreams, Hard Times, and One County’s Quest for Basketball Greatness.