Phoebe Omlie
Toronto Daily Star, September 1 1931
Phoebe Omlie (1902-1975) was introduced to flying when she begged a local airport manager in St. Paul, Minnesota, to take her up. The instructor tried a number of aerobatics in an attempt to scare her off, but it just encouraged her: after buying a plane with her inheritance, she performed a variety of stunts, including wing walking, hanging from the plane by her teeth, and doing the Charleston on a wing. She parachuted out of a plane at 15,200 feet, a record for a woman at that time, and did stunts for the movie The Perils of Pauline. While doing this movie, she met her husband, pilot Vernon Omlie, and the two went on a barnstorming tour together.
The couple moved to Memphis, where they opened a flying school and repair shop. Ms. Omlie became a licensed mechanic and transport pilot, and she set a world altitude record for women when she reached 25,400 feet in 1928. She was widowed in 1936 when her husband died in a plane crash. During the Second World War, she worked as a flying specialist for the Civil Aeronautics Authority and established a number of flight schools across the U.S. She also trained a number of female flying instructors, with her motto being "If women can teach men to walk, they can teach them to fly."
She resigned from her position in 1952, citing concerns about increasing regulation of the airline industry. After being unsuccessful as a rancher and hotelier, she spent the last years of her life in poverty in Indianapolis. When she passed away in 1975, she was buried next to her husband, whom she had outlived for nearly four decades.
Created October 2, 2025.