R. Deerman/R. Hays Cessna 140A Cotton Clipper Jr

Additional Information:

The Cessna Aircraft Company began production of the C120 and C140 model aircraft for civilian owners after World War II.

Ruth Deerman (June 17, 1905 – April 30, 2006) was a lifelong resident of El Paso, Texas and a pioneering aviatrix. Deerman got her pilot’s license in 1944 in El Paso which fulfilled her early childhood desire to fly. That was only the beginning of a lifetime of encouraging women to fly and for all people to appreciate aviation. She was a charter member of the El Paso Ninety-Nines and also helped found the El Paso Aviation Association.

The first Women’s Air Derby on August 13-20, 1929, was a transcontinental race as part of the National Air Races at Cleveland, Ohio. The 1948 and 1949 Jacqueline Cochran All-Woman Transcontinental Air Races (AWTAR) were the formal beginning of what would become popularly known as the Powder Puff Derby,

In 1954, Deerman and her co-pilot Ruby Hayes used a 1950 Cessna 140A, N992F, “Cotton Clipper Jr.”, to enter and win the cross-country Woman Transcontinental Air Race (Powder Puff Derby) from Long Beach, California to Knoxville, Tennessee, a distance of 1,988 miles.

Deerman and Hays refueled their Cessna 140A in Albuquerque July 4th during the Derby race. Her aircraft was sponsored by the El Paso International Airport and here speed averaged 123.99 mph. Several Albuquerque women were involved in Derby’s throughout the years.

In 1994, the Deerman and Hayes donated their historic aircraft “Cotton Clipper Cutie”, to the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. During the actual race, the aircraft was polished aluminum.

GALLERY: