By Nina Marousek, EAA 1110792 and Kelly Jeffries, EAA 660759
Why spend all kinds of mad money and precious time to fly more than 1,100 nm to hang out with a bunch of gals in Texas? My family didn’t get it. My male pilot friends didn’t get it. But of all the questions we fly-in attendees recently asked each other, no one asked why any of us flew our small airplanes to Texas. That’s because the women who attended this year’s Ladies Love Taildraggers Haunted Flying Tour just got it. Our themed flying event was a spectacularly grand way to have a lot of girlie fun with other gals while having fun with our airplanes too. It was about lighthearted camaraderie, flying, and airplane petting in a common language. It was about reaching out and relating to likeminded souls who have worked hard to have, and keep, the precious privilege of flight. Regardless of everyone’s day job, number of ratings, logbook hours, or length of experience, the week we flew together we were all equal. This fly-in was a salve for a pilot’s soul.
The formula was simple. Twelve flight hours from Indianapolis to Sweetwater, Texas, broken up into manageable doses of two to three flight hours a day — all flown together en masse. By the end of the week, we’d reached 28 beautiful airplanes proudly streaming in and out of grass and hard surface strips. And at each stop, we placed high-heeled shoes (the flashier the better!) by our airplanes to announce that ladies were flying and all the FBOs received a high-heeled shoe and a thank you from Ladies Love Taildraggers for their kindness and hospitality. Beyond the flying we had plenty of fun touring air museums, taking ghost tours, meeting enthusiastic airport personnel and town dignitaries, and enjoying great southern cuisine together.
What could go wrong? Fly for 1-1/2 hours, stop, have lunch with 10-30 new friends, jump back into the airplane, fly another hour, land, check in at the hotel or campsite, and later come together again for dinner. Then there’s the armchair and campfire hangar stories late into the evening. Go to bed, get up, rinse, and repeat day after awesome day. Interspersed with flying and fun were special events like late-night haunted tours, drinks in the presidential suite of a town’s best hotel, and penthouse, rooftop cocktails. And to top it off, our capstone event was a visit to Avenger Field near Sweetwater, Texas, home of the World War II Women Airforce Service Pilots, the WASP.
By the time we reached Sweetwater, we could understand the special bond the women of WASP must have felt eating, sleeping, and breathing nonstop aviation together. For one week, we were the universe and all of us were queens within it. We cared for each other and no one had to handle a problem alone. In the universe of the Ladies Love Taildraggers flying tour, everyone had great value within and beyond our aviation status. Who wouldn’t spend their aviation bucks (and some rent money) to participate? Pictures are wonderful but they don’t reveal the tremendous fun we had group flying from airport to airport, our conversations on air-to-air frequencies or the great time we had dining at Lambert’s Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri. Lambert’s, where servers lob huge dinner rolls from across the room, servings are enormous, and you get your fill of gizzards, black-eyed peas, fried frog legs, okra, and a whole lot more.
Pictures don’t show how welcoming the people at each airport were and how they thanked us wholeheartedly for choosing their airport. One happy airport manager confessed they hadn’t had so much activity in years! Airport personnel couldn’t do enough for us, often shuttling us around town, making sure we had everything we needed, providing goody bags, and offering assistance with aircraft maintenance. Pictures show the beautiful aircraft but can’t show the spirit and heart of the pilots who came from all walks of life to participate. Several were airline captains or career aviators, others were high-time and low-time private pilots — all together for one week flying this dream tour. They came long distances including Martha in her Super Cub from San Diego, Lisa in her American Champion Scout from Idaho, Nina in her Cessna 172 (heavy) from New York, and Hella in her Pitts S1-T (yes Pitts!) from Ontario, Canada.
This seminal event could not have happened without the vision of one dynamo named Judy Birchler, EAA 1041248. Judy started Ladies Love Taildraggers nine years ago hoping to find a few other lady taildragger pilots to fly with. Today, we are 2,000 people strong worldwide.
Ladies Love Taildraggers is an organization with no organization: no meetings, no dues, and no elected officers — just fun and flying. And you don’t have to fly a taildragger or even be a woman to take part. What we do have are Ladies Love Taildraggers fly-ins, meet-ups at aviation events, a scholarship program, and the coolest aviation T-shirts anywhere! And to that we can now add the Ladies Love Taildraggers Haunted Flying Tour, a truly special event for those lucky enough to fly along.