Mildred Doran

{{Infobox aviator

|name=Mildred Doran

|image=Dole Air Race Buhl CA-5 Air Sedan NX2915 Miss Doran.jpg

|caption=Mildred Doran in front of the plane

|full_name= Mildred Alice Doran

|birth_date=10 May 1905Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913

|birth_place=Renfrew, Ontario, Canada Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1963

|death_date=16 August 1927 (aged 22)

|death_place=Pacific Ocean

}}

File:BuhlCA-3CAirsedan.jpg

Mildred Alice Doran (10 May 1905 – 16 August 1927) was a Canadian aviation enthusiast who was the only woman to enter the Dole Air Race in 1927, created to be the first to fly from California to Hawaii. During the race, she and several other competitors disappeared.

Early life and education

Doran was born in Ontario to a Canadian father, William Doran, a farmer, and American mother, Minnie Doran. She was raised in Flint, Michigan.1920 United States Federal Census Her mother, who was born in Michigan, died 2 December 1921 when Mildred was 16.Michigan, U.S., Death Records, 1867-1952, Minnie Mae Doran (1922) Genessee County, Death Records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan. She raised her younger sister, Helen, and her brothers William and Floyd. Doran worked her way through high school as a telephone operator, continuing to do so after her graduation in 1924. A local businessman and owner of the Lincoln Petroleum Company, William Malloska, heard about her and paid for her to attend a teacher's course at Michigan State Normal School. She became interested in flying at a local airshow while she was in college. By the time of the race she was about 22 years old and working as a fifth-grade school teacher in Caro, Michigan.{{cite book |author=Burnett |first=Claudine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSR5BwlJrXgC&pg=PA111 |title=Soaring Skyward: A History of Aviation in and around Long Beach, California |date=4 November 2011 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4670-3360-2 |pages=111–}}{{cite web |url=https://yesteryearsnews.wordpress.com/tag/william-malloska/ |title=William Malloska |accessdate= December 2, 2016}}{{cite news |author= |date=August 2, 1927 |title=not given |page= 7 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/alaska/fairbanks/fairbanks-daily-news-miner/1927/08-02/page-7?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=8&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30 |url-access=subscription |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |newspaper=Fairbanks Daily News Miner}}{{cite news|author= |title= not given |date=August 19, 1927 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/michigan/benton-harbor/benton-harbor-news-palladium/1927/08-19?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30&ndt=by&py=1920&pey=1929&pci=7/ |url-access=subscription |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |page=Front Page |via=newspaper Archive |newspaper=Benton Harbor News Palladium}}

While in college, Doran became a member of Alpha Sigma Tau.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fraternityhistory.com/whm-mildred-doran-alpha-sigma-tau-aviator/|title= Mildred Doran, Alpha Sigma Tau Aviator|last=Becque|first=Fran |date=2016-03-14|website=Fraternity History & More|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-06}}

The air-race

Doran convinced Malloska to enter an airplane in the Dole Air Race and to allow her to fly along. The plane, a biplane Buhl Airsedan (registration NX2915), was named the Miss Doran in her honour. The pilot was John 'Auggy' Pedlar and the navigator was Vilas Knope.

Because of the attitudes of the day, Doran was popular for interviews with the press.{{cite book |author1=Ronald T. Reuther|author2=William T. Larkins |title=Oakland Aviation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd0Ciei_IYoC&pg=PA26 |year=2008 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-5600-0 |pages=26–}} It was considered strange for a woman to take part. She was quoted as saying “A woman should fly just as easily as a man.… Women certainly have the courage and tenacity required for long flights.”{{cite web |first=Richard A. |last= Durose |date=March 2011 |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/above-and-beyond-aunt-mildred-79371463/|title=Above & Beyond: Aunt Mildred|accessdate=December 2, 2016|website=Air and Space Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} Doran wanted to be the first woman to make such an ocean flight. She had been on long overland flights with the crew before.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/waterloo/waterloo-evening-courier/1927/08-01?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=8&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30/ |title= Front Page |newspaper=Waterloo Evening Courier |date=August 1, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/lima/lima-news/1927/07-07?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=7&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30/ |title=Front Page |newspaper=Lima News |date= July 7, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}

Despite engine trouble early in the race, and attempts by the crew and crowd to get her to remain behind, Doran stayed with the plane. However, although other planes arrived in Hawaii, nothing was heard from the Miss Doran or her crew again. There was a search by the Army and Navy, and also a competitor's plane which then also went missing after joining the search.{{cite web |date=2018 |first= Bryan R. |last= Swopes |url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/16-august-1927/|title=16 August 1927: The Dole Air Race |work= This Day in Aviation |accessdate=December 2, 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/john-pedlar-vilas-knope-and-mildred-doran |title=John Pedlar, Vilas Knope, and Mildred Doran |accessdate=December 2, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://dmairfield.com/people/doran_mi/index.html |title=The Mildred Doran Page of the |accessdate=December 2, 2016|work=Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website}}{{cite web|url=http://dmairfield.com/Collections/Cosgrove%20Collection/People/P-S/index.html|title=The Cornelius Burton Cosgrove, Jr. Photograph and Document Collection |accessdate=December 2, 2016|work=Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/27dolerace.html |title= Pioneer Pacific Fliers wrote Tragic Chapter In Air History

|last=Eshleman Conant |first=Jane |newspaper = San Francisco Call-Bulletin |date= October 10, 1955 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926211940/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/27dolerace.html|archivedate=September 26, 2011|url-status=dead |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |via=Sfmuseum.org}}{{cite web|url=http://www.panam.org/take-off/532-dole-2|title=Lessons Learned, 1927 |work= Pan Am Historical Foundation|accessdate=December 2, 2016}}{{Excessive citations inline|date=January 2024}}

James Dole offered $20,000 to find the missing planes. Malloska added $10,000 to find his friend and the others. Hearst also added a reward. There were many tributes after her death. Ontario, Canada named a lake in her honour and Doran Tower was put up beside Lincoln Field in Flint. The tower was destroyed in 1973 because the owner could no longer afford the taxes.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/oakland/oakland-tribune/1957/08-11/page-113?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30 |title=Oakland Tribune |date=August 11, 1957 |page= 113 |newspaper=Oakland Tribune|accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/bakersfield/bakersfield-californian/1927/08-19?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30/ |title=August 19, 1927 |date=August 19, 1927 |page= Front Page |newspaper=Bakersfield Californian|accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/altoona/altoona-mirror/1927/08-18?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30/ |title=Altoona Mirror |page=Front Page |newspaper=Altoona Mirror |date=August 18, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}

Mildred Doran

Early life and education

The air-race

See also

References

Further reading