Thirteen years after the airshow at MSG when she was 16, she received her pilot’s license in Gulf Port, Mississippi (at the time she taught Physical Education at Gulfport College, a Junior College for Girls).

Below are highlights from pages that were included in her flight materials, from 1932-1933, as she is learning to fly:

• Oct 17 – 1st lesson – 1.2hr. Short flight in 2 cyl. Aeronca
• Oct 23 – 15 min. First wing-over
• Nov 7 – watched landings. Did 4. Badly. Taxied.
• Nov 13 – Moonlight – Jewels sparkling, Thin line of foam to mark the shoreline. A 90 degree turn and zoom toward the moon.
• Nov 14 – Gorgeous day. Bumpier than any lesson. Much yet to learn, but feel rather better about landings. Made 4 today.
• Nov 20 – Beautiful day. Big crowd, did turns and steep turns and a couple of stalls and 3 landings with sideslips.
• Dec – 5 landings. Do the same stupid things every time. Will I ever learn to move the stick smoothly to avoid climbing turns, to keep my nose on the horizon, to bring the RPM down to 1350 for straight flying, to cut off the motor soon enough when coming down.
• Dec 6 – WH has bot an ‘Aeronca’ – will guarantee a solo for $75. After my lesson he took me up in it. It practically flies itself. Cute as they come. The worst lesson yet – expect to get hung up in a pine tree yet. There’s so much to learn.
• Jan 9 – After a month’s vacation it was heavenly to be up again. Didn’t do as badly as I expected tho I’m still heavy-handed on the stick and rudders. Bumpy today. 3 landings.
• Feb 3 – 1$7.50, googles, $4.50, helmet $1.75. Made six landings. The field was wet in spots and I did well at hitting them. Wore the new goggles and helmet.
• Feb 22 – The Eaglerock down for inspection, so as a great concession I was allowed to fly the Waco F. It flies beautifully. Did some good landings. Walter did some wingovers. The Waco climbs straight up! Real thrills!
• February 26 – Back to the Eaglerock. Had a grand time. WH likes to play when there’s a big crowd at the field and zoomed down and up a couple of times to scare some children off the field. Tried on a parachute for the first time (remember Fritz Vinson). For the first time knew where I was ‘at’ when we came out of a wingover.
• Mar 1 – Flew the Eaglerock. Lousy landings again once I didn’t even get down. 
• March 29 – For the first time I really flew. Hope it wasn’t just accidental one landing on the wheels, but the others were good. If I can only do as well next time.
• April 1 – Doing some better WH said I’m most ready to go solo. Wish I could think so.
• Apr 3 – Got to the field before I realized the force of the wind. Went up anyway for the experience and it was different. There are so many variables in this game. Didn’t do so well.
• April 17 – In last five minutes got back to starting point. Made first good dead stick landing.
• May 17 – HOT – but I’m not – it has been so long since last time. 
• May 18 – Ah me – 10 ½ hours and no solo yet. Bad business.
• May 22 – 6am went around twice and Walter said, “how do you feel this morning? Take it around by yourself.” FIRST SOLO FLIGHT! Made 2 landings, both three pointers. 

As for the plane lingo she uses, wingovers look like a plane doing a flip. A sideslip is where the plane moves a little sideways while also moving forward to help with alignment. A dead stick landing is when a plane is forced to land because of mechanical issues.

The planes, the Aeronca, Eaglerock, and Waco are all aircraft of the era.

Here are some other items included with the flight information.

These letters, from the President of Gulfport College and his wife, are addressed to where Helen’s family lived. They had moved from Brooklyn to Arlington, New Jersey, sometime after Helen had left for college. I don’t believe Helen lived at home again after going to Columbia. She spend her summers teaching athletics at camps or, once graduated, teaching at other colleges, well into her 30s.

When the letters were written, Helen was teaching at Purdue in Indiana, enjoying her time zipping around in the skies.