Ellen Church, first stew, wanted to be pilot

[panzerfaust]

Of course, being a woman in America in 1930, this was not possible.

At the time few people would fly because of fear, discomfort, and expense. Some things have changed little in the past 70 years.

A European airline had recently started hiring stewards (male, naturally) to look after the passengers. Prior to that, it was up to the copilot to go back and distribute the box-lunches and clean up the results – something he (of course) was not always free to do.

When Ms Church was turned down by BAT (Boeing Air Transport, later United Airlines) as a pilot, she suggested that it would calm the passengers, and make them happier if there was a “stewardess” in back whose job it was too look after them (and, if a woman could do it, it must be safe – nicht wahr?), and, if the stewardess was also a nurse she could take care of those with mal de air! As it happened, Ms Church was also a nurse.

She sold them on it, and, because of fears that women would not be able to cut it, was hired on a three month’s trial IF she could find a half-a-dozen other stewardesses who were female, nurses, single, less than 25 years old, 5’ 4”, and 115 pounds.

Besides taking care of the PIBs (People In Back: passengers) BAT thought it best if the “delicate little ladies” also loaded luggage and cargo, swapped seats in and out when changing configurations from cargo to passenger, oh yes, and help the ground crews clean the interiors, tie-down the planes and help push them around on the ground and in and out of hangers.

I am sure that she hoped she would eventually be able to find her way into the cockpit. This was not to be – but she went on to make many contributions to nursing and aviation and was awarded the Air Medal in WW2. The airfield in her hometown of Cresco, Iowa is named in her honor.

What started me on this was the entry on the “infoplease This Day in History” for May 15: 'On a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wash., Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess.'

As a result of reading that entry, I sent “infoplease” my award for the most factual errors in a single sentence in a www reference source.

You should look her up on the web – and think of her the next time the harassed, fat, 55 year old, male, laid-off IT manager now “flight attendant” tosses the “health crisps” into your lap as he rushes down the aisle bashing elbows with his food cart.