Bobbi Trout, Ca. Late 1920s (Source: Trout)
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Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout was born in
Greenup, Illinois, on January 7, 1906. She passed away at
97 on January 24, 2003 in San Diego, CA (NY Times obituary,
2/2/2003). In between she lived a full life in aviation and
out. I was happy to know her briefly, to meet some of her fellow pilots, and to "party" at least once with her.
We have lost the last surviving
female signer of the old Davis-Monthan Airfield Register: a major personal alas.
---o0o---
At left, a treasured memento of my visits with Bobbi Trout.
Photo signed in 2001 at age 95. Can you see why I believe
pilot eyes are forces of nature? If you already looked
at the register
page with her signature in 1929, you'll notice that
somewhere over the years she changed the spelling of her
name from Bobbie to Bobbi.
Bobbi landed at Tucson on March 11, 1929.
Her passenger was W.G. Mead, her
mechanic and VP of Golden Eagle Corporation (see Bobbi's
recollections of that flight, below). The airplane they flew,
Golden Eagle 522,
was an experimental model, although, as you'll see from
the link to her airplane, the "experimental" registration
was not assigned until well after this flight.
At the age of twelve she saw her first airplane. On December
27, 1922 she took her first ride in a Curtiss Jenny at Rogers
Field in Los Angeles ( the same site that Amelia Earhart took
her first airplane ride). On New Year’s Day 1928, Bobbi
began her flight training at Burdett Air Lines, Inc., School
of Aviation in Los Angeles with Burdett D. Fuller. Interestingly,
Mr. Fuller signed the Davis-Monthan register in 1926. Look
for him under the PILOTS drop down menu.
She soloed on April 30, 1928. Two weeks later she completed
her training and was issued license number 2613. She was the
fifth woman in the USA to obtain her transport license.
For further information regarding her early flying activities
and records, see Bobbi's
Web site. Below, I focus on information unavailable
in books or articles.
For example, in a letter from her from June, 2001, she reviewed
her Golden Eagle flights, including the one to Tucson
[my comments in brackets]:
"Mr. R.O. Bone who was building the first Golden Eagle
came over to Burdett Fuller's Airport and school and offered
me a job demonstrating his new plane. It had been designed
by Mark Campbell and did get me my first 2 world endurance
records. The second flight with the 60HP LeBlond engine helped
me make about 6 world records. 17 hours 20 minutes most mileage.
I was the first female to fly all nite and after the mechanics
did some checking I lifted with that engine more weight per
HP and wing loading than ever before with 60 HP. Mr. Bone
approached me right after I landed from getting in time for
my licenses. The plane was an experimental job so after I
received Headlines in papers around the world Mr. Bone had
designers come over from Douglas to redesign the plane so
that we coud get it licensed. Among the designers was Ed Heineman
the GREAT designer for Douglas during WWII. Ed was about 20
years old then when I dropped in the factory one nite to see
what all was going on. Of course we wanted to be able to sell
a lot of those cute wonderful planes. They designed it for
a 90 HP Kinner engine.
"The plane I was flying [i.e. Golden Eagle 522,
q.v.] to show was the first experimental and Mead was the
factory mechanic. I don't remember why or where we were going
to when we stopped at Tucson nor do I remember why Mead was
there in the same ship a little later. During that time might
have been when Mr. Bone had sent the new Golden Eagle to
Kinner to have a new 100 HP engine put in the ship to give
me plenty of speed in the coming Air Derby in August. Mr.
Bone might have sold Mr. Mead the X job for him to get around
in and have fun. I missed Mead about that time too."
Further, in a letter from July, 2001, she described the founding
of the Ninety-Nines.
Depending on what you read, there are multiple renditions
of how the group was founded and originally organized. Here's
one in the first-person:
"So many people get the wrong way the 99s started. I
was there under the grandstand at the Cleveland Air Races
[September, 1929] with Amelia and about 4 other flyers who
were not known names. We all about the same time said wouldn't
it be nice if we had a Club or something where we all could
get together and know each other and talk. I opened my mouth
and said "YES" it would be great but there is quite
a bit of red tape to do and by-laws to work out etc. Amelia
then just in front of me said, 'Bobbi, how about us doing
all this back east?' I thought for a moment and said yes and
the others OKd it. About a month later in 1929 they sent out
117 letters to girl flyers saying that if they would sign
the bi-laws and send in a dollar they would be a charter member
of the new Organization. 99 did and at the first meeting I
am told it was Amelia who said why not name it the 99s since
that many were Charter Members. Many articles as well as in
my book 'JUST PLANE CRAZY' the writer put in several of the
names of girls from the east but that was wrong--none of them
were there but Amelia and me who were known."
Likewise, in the same letter, she described the first meeting
of the 99s:
"As to the first meeting of the Gals of the final 99s
it was on Long Island, and I think it must have been in the
hangar. About 35 showed up and I guess Amelia named it after
the 99 Charter members. There are about 13 known Charter members
left [5 as of 4/18/05] that are known to be alive but several
have not been heard of. Achsa [Peacock, since deceased] seems
to be the oldest and I am next with Fay Wells [since deceased]
just a bit younger."
Last, but not least, from her website I learned a toast that
Bobbi, Pancho Barnes and friends used to say in 1934:
“The sexual desires of a camel
are far greater than one thinks,
for in moments of amorous passion,
he often makes love to the Sphinx.
But the Sphinx’s posterior entrance
is blocked by the sands of the Nile,
which accounts for the hump on the camel
and the Sphinx’s inscrutable smile.”
---o0o---
THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 04/18/05 UPDATED:
04/09/06, 01/08/10
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