Lady Icarus

Lady Mary's American adventures

(Special thanks to Gary for this snippet; for more, see his fascinating website. The link is below.)

"Lady Mary Heath visited the Davis-Monthan Airfield on May 30th 1929. She was flying an Avian, registry 603E. She did not indicate an origin or destination (see notation in right column), but she was westbound (page link). The Newark Star-Eagle of April 27, 1929 (“Lady Heath Starts Country Air Tour”) reports her dawn departure from the Pine Brook Airport for a tour of the U.S. piloting, “a new Whittlesworth Avian powered with a Cirrus four-in-line air cooled engine.” Her first stop was planned for Dayton, OH, with “several short hops” to the west coast. Image, left, from New York Sun, August 29, 1929.

"Her airplane was being delivered to R.W. Simpson, Clover Field, Los Angeles, as west coast dealer. It carried the latest features, including the Handley-Paige slotted wing to prevent spins. She was flying under contract to sell American Cirrus engines, and to find out how the engine would behave through use of any grade of fuel or oil. Her contract would be over when she returned east.

"Along the way on her trip, on May 2, 1929, The Star-Eagle reported (“Lady Heath In Crash”) a minor accident upon making a forced landing at Effingham, IL. The plane was damaged and repairs were made at Terre Haute, IN. She then continued her flight westward..."

Read more at www.dmairfield.com/people/heath_lm/index.htm.