Volume 18 , Issue 24

April, 1935 - Dust Forces Laura Ingalls Down; Plane Is Not Damaged

It was in The Independent Record, Helena, Montana, dated 17 April 1935, Wednesday, page 1, the following headline read: "Dust Forces Laura Ingalls Down; Plane Is Not Damaged." (Is this the same Laura Ingalls that was infamous in the book, "Little House on the Prairie?")

Found on Newspapers.com

Alamos, Colorado, April 16 (1935) -- A dust cloud "stupendous, terrific, tragic," forced Laura Ingalls, intrepid diminutive woman flyer, to abandon her attempt at a new transcontinental flying record on this date after she flew l=blind in it four hours.

It was appalling the woman flyer told the associated press a few minutes after she made forced landing here at 4:50 o'clock. "I ran into it just east of Albuquerque, N. M. Until then I had been making good time on my west-to-east try."

"I flew then four ours without a sign of the ground except for slight glimpses. I tried to get above it. It was up 22,000 feet and it still was above me. The wind was terrific. Must have flown as far as Wichita in that haze. I had fears it was ruining my motor. Then I headed back. The dust was everywhere as far in every direction as I could see and I just couldn't get over it.

"What are the people going to do? This terrible. A disaster, a tragedy for the country.

"I do not know whether my motor was hurt. I cannot tell and I plan to have it inspected carefully before going on. The plane was not hurt. I came out of the haze east of here and I saw a town and landed. It was Alamos. I came down all right and the ship was not hurt in landing.

The storm that the woman flyer encountered has hung over southeastern Colorado, western Kansas, Oklahoma and texan for weeks.

"I couldn't see a thing." Miss Ingalls said. "I just flew blind, high in the air, and I didn't know where I was."

She said she did not know immediately when she may make another attempt to break the women's transcontinental flying record of 17 hours, seven minutes and 30 seconds held by America Earhart. She left Los Angeles at 5:10 a.m. Pacific coast time (8:10 a.m. EST). her flying time to Alamos was 10 hours and 40 minutes. How far she flew she could not determine but Alamos is approximately due north of Albuquerque, 678 miles by air from Los Angeles.

When Miss Ingalls reached Albuquerque she had been in the air three hours and 40 minutes. She had maintained an average of about 180 miles an hour in her attempt to reach New York in 15 hours. The had a favorable tail wind until she reached the center of New Mexico.

Alamos was a small farming community in south central Colorado near the Sangre de Cristo mountains. There is a landing field here but no hangars. Miss Ingalls circled the fired for 10 minutes before she glided in.

She smiled when newspapermen reached her plane.

"It's all in the game," she said. She went immediately to a telegraph office to notify friends of her safe arrival.

Her black "master" plane still held considerable gas and except for dust that clung to the motor appeared to be in good condition.
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