Ruth Elder (1902-1977) was a pilot and actress. She carried private pilot certificate P675, and was known as the “Miss America of Aviation.” Ruth Elder was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines. Known as “Miss America of Aviation,” she was the first woman to attempt a flight across the Atlantic from the United States to Europe, just five months after Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. Her airplane was a new Stinson ‘Detroiter’ – a single-engine, high-wing monoplane that she called “American Girl.” On October 11, 1927, she and her co-pilot, Captain George Haldeman, took off for Paris from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York. Stormy weather and a leaking oil line forced them to ditch in the Atlantic about 300 miles short of the Azores. Ruth had spent nine hours at the controls. The two aviators were rescued by a Dutch oil tanker, the “Barendrecht.” As her plane was being hoisted on deck, it caught fire and was totally destroyed. Though they did not successfully reach their destination, they did fly about 2600 miles nonstop. This flight established a new over-water endurance flight record and also was the longest flight ever made by a woman at that time. New York City honored them with a ticker-tape parade when they returned. In 1929 Ruth Elder entered the first Women’s Air Derby, flying in her Swallow, NC8730, and placed fifth. She starred in Moran of the Marines (1928) and Glorifying the American Girl (1929). She married six times, lastly to Ralph King, to whom she was married for 21 years and who outlived her. Ruth Elder had suffered emphysema for several years before she died. In 2013 a children’s book was published about her, written by Julie Cummins and illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen, titled, Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart.