In Memoriam: Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout, January 7, 1906 - January 24, 2003
Bobbi Trout was the last surviving participant in the 1929 Women's Air Derby.

Louise M. Thaden and Herbert V. Thaden
Aviation Pioneers

   
Louise M. Thaden with the 1936 Bendix Air Race trophy, and Herbert V. Thaden portrait.

Here you can find the Hiller Museum site's photo of Louse Thaden and other women aviation pioneers, taken at the First Transcontinental Women's Air Derby in 1929. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) Louise Thaden won this Santa Monica CA to Cleveland OH race in a J-5 Travel Air biplane, traveling at an average speed of 135.97 mph in 20 hours and 2 minutes of flying time over 8 days. (This race series later became known as the "PowderPuff Derby.")

The Hiller Museum also owns one of Herb Thaden's original airplanes, a T-1 Argonaut. This plane crashed in Alaska in 1933. It was recovered by Bill Thaden and friends in 1988, and was donated to the Hiller Museum for restoration. (See below for some info on this model.)

Here are links to biographical information on Louise M. Thaden, found at:

• The National Aviation Hall of Fame Archives (very detailed)
• The Australian Hargrave Site's biographical information on Louise Thaden (Great, with lots of links and info).
• Arkansas Air Museum
• Martyn Phillips' Staggerwing Enthusiasts' site (UK)
• Aerofiles.com

More will appear here shortly---in the meantime, you can:

Below is data on several all-metal aircraft designed by Herbert V. Thaden, from Aerofiles.com, and corrected:

Companies

1928: (Herbert von) Thaden Metal Aircraft Co, Oakland Airport and San Francisco CA;
1928: 1625 Island Ave, Pittsburgh PA.
1929: Pittsburgh All-Metal Aircraft Co.
1930: Metalair Corp, div of Consolidated Corp (General Aviation Mfg Co).

T-1 (aka Argonaut) 1928 (2-29) = 6-8pClwM; 400-420hp P&W Wasp A; span: 53'0" (>53'8") length: 35'3" load: 2200# v: 135/105/52. Herbert von Thaden. POP: 1 [X3902] c/n 1; ff: Jan 15, 1928 (p: George R Pond). Crash-landed on Mar 30, 1933, in Chitna AK (p: Nat Browne); recovered in 1986 by William V. Thaden, and donated to the Hiller Museum in San Carlos, CA.

Photo of the Thaden T-1:

T-2 1928 = 4pChwM; 150hp Comet; span: 39'0" length: 25'1" (>26'0") load: 1180# v: 121/90/46 (>56). Similar to Argonaut, but with full-cantilever wing and flaps. POP: 1 [7074] c/n 2.

T-3 The T-3 was apparently unbuilt, or was modified as the T-4.

T-4 [898M] 1930 (2-247) = 4pCmwM; 300hp Wright J-6; span: 45'0" length: 32'10" load: 1435# v: 135/110/59. POP: 2; [898M] c/n 3, and [C502V] c/n 4.

Photos of the Thaden T-4: