Laura Ingalls (aviator)

Laura Houghtaling Ingalls
Born December 14, 1893
Brooklyn, New York
Died January 10, 1967 (aged 73)
Burbank, California
Nationality American
Known for Harmon Trophy
Parent(s) Francis Abbott Ingalls I
Martha Houghtaling

Laura Houghtaling Ingalls (December 14, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was a pilot who won the Harmon Trophy.

Biography

She was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 14, 1893 to Francis Abbott Ingalls I and Martha Houghtaling (1865–19??). Martha was the daughter of David Harrison Houghtaling of Kingston, New York, who was a descendant of Jan Willemsen Hoogteling, who arrived in New York on May 9, 1661.

Regarding her mother, Laura wrote: "My mother, partly through ill health, was extremely emotional and without adequate self-discipline; spoiled by her parents who thought she was wonderful and could do anything. Brilliant along certain lines, she possessed the trait I find most exciting in the American character, viz. the ability to hurdle difficulties and achieve the reputedly impossible. I grew up under such influence."

Sibling

Her brother was Francis Abbott Ingalls II (1895–19??) who was also born in Brooklyn. Francis registered for the draft while he was attending military school in Tuxedo Park, New York as a private in the infantry. He was an officer in both World War I and World War II. Francis married Mabel Morgan Satterlee (1901–1993) on September 19, 1926. Mabel was the daughter of Herbert Livingston Satterlee and Louisa Pierpont Morgan, the daughter of J. P. Morgan.

Aviation

Her most well-known flights were made in 1934 and earned her a Harmon Trophy. Ingalls flew in a Lockheed Air Express [1] from Mexico to Chile, over the Andes Mountains to Rio de Janeiro, to Cuba and then to Floyd Bennett Field in New York, marking the first flight over the Andes by an American woman, the first solo flight around South America in a landplane, the first flight by a woman from North America to South America, and setting a woman's distance record of 17,000 miles.

Convicted spy

In December 1941, Ingalls was charged by a grand jury with serving as a publicity agent for the Nazi government – specifically, accepting unknown payments from Baron Ulrich von Gienanth of the German Embassy since March of that year. Her failure to register as a German agent violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. During the trial it came out that von Gienanth had encouraged Ingalls's participation in the non-interventionist America First Committee, a significant embarrassment for that organization.[2]

Found guilty, she was sentenced on February 20, 1942, to between eight months and two years. She was transferred from the District of Columbia jail to the West Virginia Women's Reformatory in Alderson, West Virginia on July 14, 1943.

Ingalls was released on October 5, 1943. Ingalls applied for a presidential pardon and her application was supported by Edward V. Rickenbacker, but she was never able to receive clemency.[3]

Death

She died on January 10, 1967 in Burbank, California, aged 73.

Aviation records

Timeline

References

  1. ↑ Same article under Timeline, also "L-100 TriStar, The Lockheed Story, Ingells, Douglas, Aero Pub, pg30
  2. ↑ "Laura Ingalls Held as Reich Agent. Flier Says She Was Anti-Nazi Spy. Laura Ingalls Is Jailed as a German Agent. Flier Says She Was Anti-Nazi Spy on Her Own". New York Times. December 18, 1941. Retrieved 2012-10-24. Laura Ingalls, woman flier, was arraigned before a United States Commissioner today, charged with being a paid agent of the German Government and as such failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. ...
  3. ↑ PARDON POWER: The Intersection of Mercy and Athleticism

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Ingalls.

Further reading

Wikisource has original text related to this article: