Ruth Elder- An American Girl

October 11, 1927 Actress and adventurer Ruth Elder and her flight instructor George Haldeman took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York in an attempt to make Elder the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Elder’s plane the “American Girl” was not up to the task and crashed into the ocean near the Azores. Both Elder and Haldeman survived. Haldeman had been Elinor Smith’s flight instructor as well and had coached Elinor for her first solo flight.