16 Facts About Marvel Crosson

Marvel Crosson was a pioneer aviator, and the first female pilot to earn a commercial license in the Territory of Alaska.

Marvel Crosson worked in both California and Alaska and died in a crash during the first Women's Air Derby.

Marvel Crosson was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2011.

Marvel Crosson was born to Esler Crosson and his wife Elizabeth Wynant Crosson in Warsaw, Indiana, the hometown of Elizabeth Crosson.

Marvel Crosson's brother Joe was born in Minneapolis, Kansas, where the family lived on a ranch.

In 1922, the Crosson family moved to San Diego, California.

Joe Marvel Crosson moved to the Territory of Alaska to take a job as a pilot.

Marvel Crosson followed soon afterward and earned her commercial pilot's license there, the first woman in the territory to do so.

Marvel Crosson joined her brother in his business, piloting and keeping the equipment in working order.

Marvel Crosson helped her brother transport a monoplane from San Diego to New York for Hubert Wilkins.

Marvel Crosson set an altitude record of 23,996 feet on May 28,1929, while piloting a Travel Air J-5.

Marvel Crosson died on August 19,1929, when her Travel Air Model 11 airplane crashed in the Arizona desert on the second day of the Women's Air Derby that had begun in California.

Marvel Crosson's body was found several hundred feet from her plane.

Marvel Crosson's parachute had been released, but was unopened, possibly indicating that she was too near the ground for it to work properly after being released.

Marvel Crosson was entombed at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego, California.

Marvel Crosson was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2011.