AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 106) AOPAPILOT 50 years The ladies fly A lovely group of pilots BY JULIE SUMMERS WALKER PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HUSSEY S ix members of the Abilene unit o f t h e Te x a s Chapter of the In t e r n a t i o n a l Ninety-Nines gathered for a photo in 1958 as they prepared for a crosscountry on a warm spring day. Fifty years later, three of the surviving members remember the thrill and freedom of being among the few women pilots in the United States. “We were unique. We were birds of a different feather,” remembers Mrs. W.R. Cree (the women were identified by their husbands names in the 1958 photo caption). The pilots in the photo included founding members of the Abilene unit—Mrs. Dick Elam (Maxine), Mrs. Scott Taliaferro (Patty), Mrs. J.M. Hooks (Ann Ell), Mrs. Floyd Childs (Margaret), Mrs. James Caldwell (Ruby Caldwell Kinard), and Mrs. W.R. Cree (Amber). Amber Cree stopped flying about four years ago at the age of 72. She’d had her pilot certificate since she was 26 years old. Ruby Caldwell and her late husband sold their Cessna 310 some 15 years ago and Patty Taliaferro stopped flying 10 years ago at the age of 70—after nearly 63 years of flying. “Off for a cross-country party” reads the caption for the photo that appeared in the March 1958 issue of The AOPA Pilot (above). Original members of the Abilene unit of The NinetyNines Ruby Caldwell Kinard and Amber Cree (at right, center left and right) with “newer” members of the unit Marjorie Andrews (far left) and Beverly Tarpley (far right). AOPA PILOT • 106 • MARCH 2008
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