TLS, one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, September 25, 1934. Letter to Dr. R. E. Whitehead, the Medical Director of the Bureau of Air Commerce. In part: “I do hope the appointment of Dr. Gross will come through shortly. It seems to me the sooner a few statistics are gathered concerning women pilots, the better. My feeling is that only the simplest studies should be inaugurated at this time. As you know, there are no records of any kind concerning women as pilots. We do not know how they react to altitude, or fatigue, or anything else, as we do men. Since this is the case I see no necessity for the time being, for elaborate tests involving the expenditure of any considerable sum. Instead just records should be kept until differences appear (or not) which would indicate need for special research. I am sure the 99s could secure perhaps fifty or one hundred women as volunteers for rebreathing tests (such as given by the Navy) and other basic experiments to produce these data. In short, it is my lay opinion that there is much ground to be covered in checking up on women as pilots before it becomes necessary to study the same pilots as women. As always I shall be glad to do anything I can do to further cooperation between women flyers and the Department.”
In fine condition, with two lines of text lightly underlined in red pencil, staple holes to top left, and a small ink arrow below a lower paragraph, apparently drawn by Earhart.
As her own medical certificate for an air transport class of license is being approved, Earhart sent this letter to the physician in charge in response to a study on female pilots. At the time, women pilots were seen as a threat to the male-dominated industry—pilots such as the “Ninety Nines”—a group of 99 women that she founded in 1929 to encourage more opportunities in aviation for women. Earhart also expresses her desire for the appointment of Dr. Clara Gross as a female physician to the Bureau of Air Commerce to be more receptive to their physical concerns. Later that year, Whitehead published a study on women pilots and aviation that purportedly showed an increasing number of accidents by women pilots. “The US has practically been depleted of women pilots by accidents” the investigator claimed, adding, “If they are not able to evaluate their frailties while they are on the ground, how are they going to evaluate them in the air?” In part due to the study, many women flight pioneers were removed from active status. However, also in 1934, pilot Helen Richey beat out seven male competitors for the position of co-pilot on the Central Airways mail route from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. As for Earhart, she carved her own spot in the history of flight. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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