May 24, 1929 Silent film THE WINGED HORSEMAN flew into theaters, starring movie cowboy Hoot Gibson and actress/aviatrix Ruth Elder. In October, 1927, along with Elinor Smith’s flight instructor George Haldeman, Elder had attempted to become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. If her plane hadn’t developed an oil leak, forcing a water landing only 300 miles off the Azores, Ruth Elder would be more famous than Amelia Earhart today.
