Nichols About to Fly
Women air pilots -- United States
Famous early pilot Ruth Nichols looks a bit mismatched in a sweater with a collared shirt underneath, flight pants, and a plane helmet. Part of a large plane rudder is visible behind the smiling aviatrix.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN46
Nichols Sits Leisurely
Women air pilots -- United States
Ruth Nichols sits atop a house's stone stoop on a sunny day. The famous female pilot sports a full skirt, large beret hat, and a smile.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN45
Photo Strip with Ruth Nichols
Women air pilots -- United States
In this photograph strip tha consists of two images, Ruth Nichols, an incredibly successful female pilot of her time, sits at a table next to an unknown man with two others standing beside them. The first photograph is fairly clear with Nichols looking directly at the picture taker. In the second photograph, which is quite fuzzy, those captured appear to be busy with something on the table.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN44
Nichols Atop a Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
Ruth Nichols, widely known as an accomplished aviatrix of her time, sits high on the wings of fairly large, non-commercial plane. On the side of the plane are the names "Anoco" and "Akila."
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN43
Ruth Nichols at Sea
Women air pilots -- United States
On the front of this postcard, Ruth Nichols, a famous female pilot, tests out a nautical instrument on a Navy boat.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN42
Ruth Nichols and Navy Officer
Women air pilots -- United States
Record-breaking aviatrix Ruth Nichols stands on at the bow of a navy boat with an officer. The Navy man is showing Nichols how to operate a nautical instrument.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN41
Nichols Waiting for Transportation
Women air pilots -- United States
Aviation pioneer and multiple record breaker Ruth Nichols stands on a train station platform wearing a full length, double-breasted coat, headband, and strapped shoes. She appears to be looking for the train or somebody to arrive.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN40
Nichols at the Control Center
Women air pilots -- United States
Famous Aviatrix Ruth Nichols sits in the Air Control Center holding a paper and wearing a headset. She appears to be sending out a message using Morse code. Behind her stands a male airplane pilot in uniform.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN39
Nichols Poses for Portrait
Women air pilots -- United States
Aviation pioneer and multiple record breaker Ruth Nichols sits for a portrait wearing a leather flight jacket. Silver flight wings are pinned to her chest.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN38
Ruth Nichols Portrait in Flight Coat
Women air pilots -- United States
Aviation pioneer and multiple record breaker Ruth Nichols sits for her portrait wearing a stylish fur-lined, white coat.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN37
Nichols Waving From Plane Window
Women air pilots -- United States
Dressed in a nice woman's suit and wearing a pillbox hat, record breaking aviatrix Ruth Nichols is seen waving from the window of a plane.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN36
Ruth Nichols in Triple Record Breaking Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
This photograph shows Helen Hayes (ground) greeting famous aviatrix Ruth Nichols. Nichols is sitting on the wing of her Lockhead Vega, the plane in which she went on to break three records: speed, distance and altitude. The latter record was just broken before this photograph was taken on 6 March 1931. Nichols was the first woman pilot to reach a height of 28,743 feet.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
6 March 1931
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN35
Nichols Setting Transcontinental Record
Women air pilots -- United States
During her impressive flying career, Ruth Nichols set a new Transcontinental flying time record. Pictured here is Nichols in her Lockhead Vega in Burbank, California on 1 December 1930 after flying from the East to the West coast in 17 hours. Ten days later she arrived back on on the East coast after a total flight time of 13 hours.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
1 December 1930
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN34
Burbank, California
Nichols in Front of Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
Famed aviatrix Ruth Nichols is seen in this photograph standing in front of a military plane. Although wearing a dress, she appears to have a flight suit draped across her left arm.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN33
Letter from Ruth Nichols Admirer
Women air pilots -- United States
Aviation pioneer and multiple record breaker Ruth Nichols most likely received many letters from fans. This is one such letter in which Nichols is asked for her assistance in detailing a photograph of herself.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
October 1, 1930
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN32
New York
Plane on Runway
Airplanes
Found in the a collection of photographs gathered by famed female pilot Ruth Nichols is this picture of a plane, most likely from the 1930s, sitting upon a cement runway.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN31
Three Women in Front of Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
Three women, dressed in the style of the 1940s and 50s, stand all with their hands clapsed in front of a small plane. A man is barely visible in the cockpit window. The left-most woman is most-likely Ruth Nichols.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1940s - 1950s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN30
Bundled Ruth Nichols and a Crosley Radio Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
Aviation pioneer and multiple record breaker Ruth Nichols stands in front of a Crosley Radio Plane. Brothers Prowel Jr. and Lewis Crosley, founders of Crosley Radio, were inventors who were responsible for the first airplane radio broadcast in 1930s. Nichols wears a fur-lined, heavy jumpsuit. A similar photograph with the same plane exists in which Nichols is wearing a classic 1930s hat and long leather coat.
Photograph by H. A. Schoenhals Photography, 1 Newark Ave., Jersey City, New Jersey.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN29
Ruth Nichols Smiling Portrait
Women air pilots -- United States
Record-breaking pilot Ruth Nichols sits for a picture. Smiling, she wears a white headscarf and large-collared shirt.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN28
On The American Magazine Cover
Women air pilots -- United States
Pictured here is a black and white copy of the cover of the March 1932 edition of contemporary popular magazine The American Magazine. The front features famed female pilot Ruth Nichols. Ruth Nichols' story appears inside: "Behind the Ballyhoo" by Neysa McMein. In the colored print, Ruth is wearing a bright red jumpsuit. This cover was printed slightly different in Canada.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
Woodhouse, P. G., Octavus Roy Cohen, Faith Baldwin, and C. B. Kelland, Eds. The American Magazine. Springfield, Ohio: Crowell-Collier Publishing Company (March 1932).
March 1932
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN27
Springfield, Ohio
Relief Wings
Women air pilots -- United States
World War II
Ruth Nichols, pioneer female pilot and future lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol, uses the back end of a plane as a hard surface to write. On either side of her or two men in suits. On the plane is the logo for Relief Wings, a civilian air service that Nichols headed in 1939. This service assisted the Civil Air Patrol during the second World War and went out on emergency relief flights. It was due to her service with Relief Wings that Nichols earned her lieutenant colonel ranking.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
1939
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN26
Ruth Nichols Steps Down From Plane
Women air pilots -- United States
Female pilot Ruth Nichols stands on the wheel of a plane surrounded by a group of men, most of them wearing suits. Nichols herself is dressed nicely with a dress and 1930s hat. One of the suited men lends his hand to Nichols as she steps down from the plane.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
1930s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN25
Wings for Peace
Women air pilots -- United States
A smiling Ruth Nichols, well-known female pilot, stands dressed in a white flight jumpsuit with her arm over the back end of a plane. This early plane has either the name or the advertisement "Wings for Peace" scrolled across it.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1930s-1940s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN24
Ruth Nichols Fancily Dressed
Women air pilots -- United States
Famed and record-breaking aviatrix Ruth Nichols stands smiling with her hands clutched in front of her for a picture. She is wearing a long velvet dress, white pearls, and a small broach.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1920s
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN23
Portrait of Ruth Rowland Nichols
Women air pilots -- United States
Pioneer female pilot Ruth Rowland Nichols poses for her portrait wearing a leather, high-collared coat.
IWASM
Ruth Nichols Photograph Collection, International Women's Air and Space Museum
ca. 1924-1960
Heidi Fearing
Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at info@iwasm.org
Photo No. RN22