Former Home of Pioneering Aviator Elinor Smith Sullivan

Elinor Smith was born in New York in 1911. Her parents, both actors, would play a large part in shaping their young daughter’s interest in flying. Her father, an actor, also had a keen interest in aviation and spent much of his free time at Curtiss Field, often bringing Elinor along with him. Her mother, also a performer, felt strongly that women—especially her daughter—should have the same opportunities in life that men have.

Elinor’s first time in a plane came with her father when she was six, and at eight, she got her first flying lesson. For that flight, she had to have a pillow placed behind her back in order to reach the controls. By the time she was eleven, she was regularly rising before daybreak so that she could go to Curtiss Field and take flying lessons before school started.

Within a few years, at the age of 15, Elinor became the first woman in the world to fly solo. The next year, she became the youngest person in the United States to earn a pilot’s license. In 1928, at the age of 17, Elinor made headlines around the world because of her most daring accomplishment yet. After being dared by a group of male pilots at Curtiss Field, the teenager flew her plane—solo—under the four East River bridges. For her stunt, the Department of Commerce grounded her for 10 days, but Smith seemed unfazed by the punishment. She remains the only person ever to have piloted a landplane under all four bridges. The feat made her famous and soon she was known far beyond Long Island as the “Flying Flapper of Freeport."

She went on to even bigger feats. In 1929, while still 17, she set the women’s solo endurance record after staying aloft for more than 13 hours. When another female pilot broke her record shortly afterward, Smith took it back by remaining in the air for more than 26 hours. The same year, she joined pilot Bobbi Trout and set a joint endurance record of 42 hours. During that flight, they also became the women to refuel a plane in midair. At 18, she became the youngest person to earn a transport license, which authorized her to fly passengers commercially. Later that year, she became the first woman to pilot a military aircraft. In 1934, she became the only female flyer to be featured on the Wheaties cereal box.

A year earlier, in 1933, Smith married New York State Congressman Patrick Sullivan and started a family. For a number of years, she put her flying career on pause while she raised her four children. But after her husband's death in 1956, Sullivan began flying again. She continued flying into the 2000s and broke records at NASA's Ames Research Center with an all-female crew. In 2000, she became the oldest pilot to succeed in a simulated shuttle landing. Sullivan flew her last flight at the age of 89.

The Freeport Historical Society wanted to place a historic marker at Sullivan's childhood home, but the homeowners did not allow its placement. As of this writing, the house is not identified and the marker resides at the historical society's museum. Please be advised that the Nassau Avenue home is a private residence.

Hevesi, Dennis . Elinor Smith, one of the Youngest Pioneers of Aviation, is Dead at 98, New York Times . March 27th 2010. Accessed May 5th 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/28smith.html.

Hendry, Erica. Saying Goodbye to one of America's Earliest Female Aviation Pioneers, Elinor Smith Sullivan, Smithsonian. March 30th 2010. Accessed May 5th 2021. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/saying-goodbye-to-one-of-americas-earliest-female-aviation-pioneers-elinor-smith-sullivan-122040036/.

Lineberry , Denise . Elinor Smith: Born to Fly , NASA. March 30th 2010. Accessed May 5th 2021. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/elinor-smith.html.

Nataly, Nadya . Freeport's "Flying Flapper" Remembered , Long Island Herald . August 2nd 2018. Accessed May 5th 2021. https://www.liherald.com/stories/freeports-flying-flapper-remembered,105770.