Described by the press as the "foremost American aviatrix" in the early 1920s, Laura Bromwell was an aviation world record holder before her tragic death in a plane accident in 1921. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 17, 1897, with her father dying in 1907 and her mother in 1918. She flew as a passenger for the first time by winning a competition selling $21,000 worth of Liberty bonds during World War I, and later learned to fly in 1919 by joining the New York Aerial Police Reserve, becoming the first aerial policewoman in the world, and rose to the rank of captain. She was also the first woman since World War I to earn her pilot's license, receiving her Federation Aeronautique Internationale certificate on October 22, 1919.
On May 15, 1921, she set an aerobatic record by looping 199 consecutive times in just one hour, 20 minutes and also set a female speed record of 135 miles per hour with that same flight. Just two weeks later, on June 5, she was performing stunts for an audience in Mineola, Long Island, when her plane stalled in the middle of a loop and fell one thousand feet to her death. The most likely explanation was that Bromwell, who was flying a borrowed Canadian JN-4, was not as familiar with the straps and did not secure herself properly. As the plane was upside down, Bromwell is suspected to have lost her footing on the pedals and control of the airplane, crashing within sight of the spectators below.
This pilot's license was donated to the Museum's collection in 1984.
