Helen Hodge Harris | |
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| Born | Helen Hodge August 2, 1892 Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
| Died | 1967 (aged 74–75) Pomona, California, United States |
Helen Hodge Harris (1892-1967) was among the first women to earn a pilot's license. [1] She was therefore one of the few women among the Early Birds of Aviation. In addition she became a proponent of flight safety. [2] She later became supervisor of a machine shop. [3]
Hodge was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 2, 1892. [1] She was educated at the Brownell-Talbot School (then Brownell Hall) [3] before moving to Oakland, California with her family. [4] They appear to have settled in Oakland by roughly 1909, when she married Ralph Newbre. [1] In June 1916, Hodge filed for divorce, claiming Newbre had been unfaithful. [5] A July article mentions her living with her father, and she seems to have reclaimed her maiden name. [4] However, it appears that they may have reconciled: a 1919 article refers to the Newbres as husband and wife, [6] and the book Before Amelia: Women Pilots in the Early Days of Aviation seems to imply that they stayed together until Ralph Newbre's death in the 1930s. [1]
Hodge and her twin sister, Florence "Dot" Hodge, [7] took flying lessons together at Silas Christofferson's school in Redwood City, California, [4] after being initially rejected due to their gender. [1] Their instructor was aviator Frank Bryant, [8] who taught them to fly on a Curtiss-type biplane. [1] A San Francisco Examiner profile written in July 1916 described Helen as "the more venturesome of the couple". [4] Their father, J.B. Hodge, reportedly disapproved of them learning to fly, but "accepted the situation philosophically." [4]
Hodge trained at the Christofferson school for six months. [8] During one flight while Hodge was at an altitude of 1500 feet, her plane's motor mount broke, causing the motor to come loose. [6] Hodge managed to land safely, "much to the surprise of even her teachers." [6]
Hodge's first independent flight was made over San Francisco Bay on August 19, 1916, [9] and she received her pilot's license on November 12, 1916. [8] At the time, she planned to become an exhibition flyer. [8] Though she did perform several exhibition flights for the Christofferson school, most of her flights appear to have been simply for her own pleasure. [1] Hodge was the eleventh female pilot in the United States to receive her license, [1] and possibly the last American woman to become a licensed pilot before the start of World War I. [1] During the war, she was a flight instructor for American cadets. [1]
Hodge married Frank Harris in 1937 after moving to Los Angeles. [3] There, she opened a machine shop specializing in airplane tools. [3] She supervised a crew of twenty men and fourteen women, [3] and could operate machinery herself as needed. [1] Frank Harris had passed away by 1950. [3] Hodge died in Pomona, California, in 1967. [1]
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