From ARC: Women’s air racing all started in 1929 with the First Women’s Air Derby. Twenty pilots raced from Santa Monica, CA to Cleveland, OH, site of the National Air Races. Racing continued through the ‘30’s and was renewed again after WWII when the All Women’s Transcontinental Air Race (AWTAR), better known as the Powder Puff Derby, came into being. The AWTAR held its 30th, final and commemorative flight in 1977. When the AWTAR was discontinued, the Air Race Classic, Ltd., (ARC) stepped in to continue the tradition of transcontinental speed competition for women pilots and staged its premier race. The Air Race Classic was reincorporated in 2002 into the Air Race Classic, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
Air Race Classic, Inc. is dedicated to:
- Encouraging and educating current and future women pilots
- Increasing public awareness of general aviation
- Demonstrating women’s roles in aviation
- Preserving and promoting the tradition of pioneering women in aviation
In 1953 a presidential call sign was established by the Eisenhower Administration. The call sign stemmed from for two aircraft – Eastern Airlines flight 8610 and Air Force 8610 – entering the same airspace and which could have resulted in a midair incident. The Air Force aircraft was, at the time, carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The first flight of a presidential aircraft with the call sign Air Force One was in 1959.