Evelyn Waldren
Evelyn Esther Nicholas Burleson Whitmaker Waldren was the first woman in Nebraska to become a pilot, the first woman in North Dakota with a transport pilot's license, and one of the first women in the United States with a flight instructor's license. In 1941, she set a new speed and distance record for female pilots in light planes.
Childhood
Waldren was born Evelyn Esther Nicholas in Stockham, Nebraska. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and her younger sister, Virginia, were raised by their mother and stepfather. When she was five years old, her family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. Her stepfather was a "heavy duty equipment operator". A self-described tomboy, Waldren grew up helping him in his garage and visiting the construction sites where he worked. She attended McKinley School and Bryant School. She was skilled at drawing and considered a career as an artist.In the summer of 1926, Waldren saw an airshow in the small southern Nebraskan town where her stepfather was working on a railroad. She wanted to go for a plane ride, but her parents were concerned about the risks. Aviation appealed to her because of the good pay, the opportunity for travel, and the chance to work outdoors. Hearing about the feats of pilots like Ruth Elder, Charles Lindbergh and Phoebe Omlie strengthened her resolve.
Flight training
Despite Waldren's arguments, her mother and stepfather refused to let her fly. Finally, on March 1, 1928, Waldren's mother agreed to let her train at the Lincoln School of aviation and to pay for the first fifty hours of lessons. As she told the story in 1986, "My mother enrolled me, paid $50 and said, 'You're on your own now: probably just a whim anyhow.' Well, this whim has lasted 56 years."On March 3, Waldren took her first flight in a surplus World War I biplane. She remembered it as "the most remarkable, wonderful feeling. I felt the rush of wind in my face, smelled the exhaust. It looked like a fairyland down there." After 14 hours of practice, Nicholas flew alone for the first time on June 7 at Page Field. Later that year, she obtained her pilot's license, becoming the first female pilot in Nebraska. By then, she had spent 75 hours flying solo.
For ten years, Waldren's father, Wilhelm Nicholas, had not known where she was. After he recognized her picture in the newspaper, he was reunited with his daughters in 1928.
Great Depression
After graduating flight school, Waldren moved to Rockford, Illinois, where she carried passengers and did exhibition flying. She hoped to get a transport pilot's license, but needed 200 hours of flying time to qualify. After the Great Depression began in August 1929, Waldren had difficulty finding jobs, let alone work that would allow her to fly. She worked as a clerk and a ticket salesman, saving whatever money she could spare towards her transport license. Decades later, she recalled renting a plane and flying it once around the airport for a dollar. She remarked that "I've got a lot of three-, four- and five-minute entries in my log book. It came very slowly." Waldren also hunted coyotes for a $2.50 government bounty, shooting them from a Rearwin Sportster plane. Ranchers' associations would sometimes give her free chicken dinners and free gas for her plane to thank her.Jamestown Municipal Airport
In 1929, Waldren married Howard Burleson, who had been one of her instructors at the Lincoln flying school. They moved to North Dakota, where she became the first woman in the state to get a transport pilot's license in 1933. With her husband, she ran a flying service out of the Jamestown Municipal Airport from 1931 to 1937, making charter trips. She also worked as an airways observer for the weather bureau and as a station agent and traffic representative for a local firm. She recalled her time there in a 1986 interview:"I used to fly barnstorming shows in North Dakota during the Depression. We used to send an advance man to a town to pick out a field and tack up some posters. Then we'd hit town on the weekend and put on a couple of shows for the folks. One of our tricks was to toss rolls of toilet paper out of the planes, so they'd unravel all the way down. Well, when we landed, we went back to pick up the paper- but we couldn't find any. You have to remember how poor everyone was. One lady in the audience picked it all up- a whole month's supply."
Albany Airport
Waldren and Howard Burleson managed the Albany Municipal Airport in Oregon from 1937 to 1941. Waldren also wrote a column on aviation for the Albany Democrat-Herald, called Wings Over Willamette. In 1939, she was appointed to the women's committee and the junior activities committee of the National Aeronautic Association's Willamette Valley chapter.In February 1939, Waldren was appointed an air patrolman by the Albany chief of police, making her the second female air patrolman in Oregon. Her jurisdiction extended over the airport, where she had the responsibility of enforcing aviation law and responding to any emergencies. She was recommended for the post by the Aero Policewoman's Association of America.
In October 1939, Albany Municipal Airport was approved to run a training program for the Civil Aeronautics Authority. Waldren became a Civilian Aviation Authority Flight Examiner after passing her written exam with a score of 94. It was the highest score her examiner had ever given. With this achievement, Waldren became the second women to receive a pilot instructor's license in the United States. Through the program, she instructed an initial group of ten students and a second group of fifteen students. Waldren's second class included six women. The students, who came from Oregon State University, were required to have eight hours of flight instruction before flying on their own.
In 1941, Oregon women reactivated their chapter of the Ninety-Nines, a professional organization for female pilots. Waldren was named vice governor of the chapter, which included Edith Foltz, Leah Hing, and Bessie Gale Halliday.
Goodwill flight
In 1941, Waldren planned a nonstop flight from Canada to Mexico. She wanted to fly to Mexico City, where she would deliver goodwill letters from the governor of Oregon and the mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia. Waldren took off from Vancouver at 2:30 PM on October 1 in her Taylorcraft airplane, Miss Liberty. The plane held 80 gallons of gasoline. She had delayed her flight by a day due to bad weather.That night, she flew into a fog bank over the Siskiyou Mountains. She considered bailing out, but decided it was too dangerous, since she "was probably too low to jump anyway." Disoriented, she made a series of climbs and dives, then decided her best chance was to try to rise above the mountaintops. After an uncertain amount of time, she emerged from the fog near Mount Shasta.
Waldren landed in Tijuana, Mexico on October 2 at 7:30a.m., setting a new women's record for speed and distance in a light plane. Her average speed during the flight was 103 miles per hour. Upon landing in Tijuana, she abandoned her plan to fly to Mexico City.