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NASA TALK AND OPEN HOUSE APPEARANCE
Famed aviatrix to share memories and vision for future
Employees and News Media only
*Hear Elinor Smith
NASA Langley Colloquium
Friday, April 27 at 2 p.m.
"On Flying: Past, Present, and Future"
Bldg. 1202, Pearl Young Theater
Public Invited
Meet Elinor Smith
NASA Langley Open House
Saturday, April 28 from 10 - 11 a.m.
At the General Aviation Exhibit
Bldg. 1244, Hangar
* News media briefing from 12:45 - 1:15 p.m. in
B.1244 (Hangar) precedes Friday talk.
Call Keith Henry at 344-7211 for Center access Friday.
In 1928, at age 16, aviatrix Elinor Smith earned national
recognition as the youngest pilot to receive an official pilot's
license -- and it was signed by Orville Wright. Two years later,
Ms. Smith was voted 'best female pilot' by her peers -- a group
that included the famous Amelia Earhart. Ms. Smith's aviation
experiences in the 1920s and 30s led to many records and worldwide
fame. Only a few years later, she gave it all up to marry and raise
four children. Not until the 1960s did she return to flying.
The week of April 23, Ms. Smith will be visiting NASA's Langley
Research Center to film part of what will become a documentary on
the future of aviation. While in Hampton, Ms. Smith and a research
pilot will fly a highly modified four-passenger aircraft fitted
with the latest in smart aircraft technology that evolved from the
NASA-led Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments
(AGATE) program. At age 89, Ms. Smith will experience what future
small plane aviators will find commonplace just a few short years
from now.
On April 27th at 2pm, Ms. Smith will give a one-hour talk about
her flying experiences and her vision for the future of aviation.
The talk will be held in the Pearl Young Theater. Ms. Smith, one of
the few surviving female aviation pioneers, will speak in the
theater named for the first female professional at Langley Research
Center--Pearl I.Young. This coincidence marks the significant
achievements of both women in the same week that Langley sponsors
'Take Our Daughters (and Sons) to Work.'
On April 28th, during the NASA Langley Open House, Ms. Smith
plans to be available to meet the public and sign autographs from
10 am - 11 a.m. in the Hangar near the General Aviation exhibit.
The AGATE 1B aircraft will be one of 10 aircraft on display in the
Hangar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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