Alys McKey-Bryant: Female Aviator, Deep Sea Diver, and Barrier Breaker

Alys McKey Bryant and Ottomer Savanack: Taken at Battery Park in Sandusky as the two  work on Tom Benoist's Flying Boat 106
Charles E. Frohman Collection

A woman once called a "Jack of all trades and master of none" by her mother, Alys McKey-Bryant wound up trailblazing her way into the history books thanks to her passion for aviation and her reckless abandon for the gender norms of her time. Her response to her mother, "Well perhaps it is good... to be able to do several things, for then one is never out of a job." It was a testament to the life she lived and the legacy she left behind. 

In 1912, Bryant was living in California and spending her time rebuilding a Curtiss-type pusher aircraft and teaching herself to fly. By the summer of the following year, she made history as the first female to fly in Canada when she took off at Minoru Park, Vancouver, on July 31, 1913. That year, she also barnstormed in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  

John Milton Bryant came into Alys' life early in her flying career. It was he who signed Alys as a barnstormer pilot. But within ten short weeks of their marriage, Alys became a widow. Days after Alys' historic Canadian flight, John lost his life while flying an exhibition at Victoria on August 6, 1913.  

Within three years of rebuilding her plane and learning to fly, Alys McKey-Bryant found work as an aircraft mechanic in 1915. This is also the year she met Tom Benoist, who would soon become both her employer and close friend. Benoist had opened The Benoist Airplane Company in Sandusky, Ohio. Alys became Benoist's factory supervisor, mechanic, and flight instructor. Two of her responsibilities were building aircraft and training students for military service as airmen. Their friendship was short-lived, however, as Benoist lost his life in a freak accident as he stepped off the local street car in June of 1917.  After his death, classes were suspended and the factory shut down, leaving Bryant to sort through all of the drawings, patent records, and office files for the now defunct company. 

Alys McKey Bryant and Elmer Straub stand before Benoist Flying Boat 106. and Benoist Aviation  students: Reinhardt Ausmus, George Thompson, Marian Baily, Horace Leper, George Lites, Otis Kline, Brubaker, Ottomer Savanack, Verne Carter at Battery Park, Sandusky, Ohio
Charles E. Frohman Collection

Bryant penned an unpublished manuscript, Born With Wings, which provided insight into her personal life, as well as her time at what had come to be affectionately referred to as "the Benoistery." The stories she shared about her work, the students, and their leader painted a picture of a man who was idolized by those fortunate enough to learn from him and who left a hole the size of a crater in his wake. 

She also spoke of a plane she spent time designing and building during the winters when Lake Erie was frozen and flying was not possible. Although this "pursuit style" aircraft made it as far as partial fabrication. it was ultimately never finished. 

Charles E. Frohman Collection

Staying true to her "jack of all trades" philosophy, she had interests in fields involving land, air, and sea. A business card advertises her services as both an aviator and a deep sea diver, but her love for the air ran the deepest, and it also garnered the majority of her recognition. 

During the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of her historic flight in Canada, Bryant stated that, "Although WINGS have given me everything--and have taken from me-- everything but my own life--my love for them has never diminished and now my one thought--one prayer-- is that WINGS may be used--NOT for destruction, but for making more friendly and understanding relations between the nations of the earth."

Guest Post by Amber Lewis, Archival Intern Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

Teddy and Taft Campaigning in Ohio

This photograph  was taken in Fremont, Ohio in May 1912 while William Howard Taft was standing on the Sandusky County Courthouse steps campaigning for President.

Known as a bellwether state, Ohio has been the scene of numerous political showdowns in the race for the presidency. Perhaps none excited residents more than the primary campaign of 1912. Fighting for his political life, President William Howard Taft set out on a week long campaign tour through his native state to battle his one-time friend and mentor ex-president Teddy Roosevelt. It was the first time a sitting president had campaigned during the primaries. Both men needed Ohio’s delegates to win the Republican Party’s nomination at the upcoming convention. \This photograph is of Teddy Roosevelt campaigning in Fremont, Ohio, for Vice President twelve years earlier. The date was October, 18, 1900. Beside him is T. P. Dewey of Clyde, Ohio, who was a candidate for Congress. This photograph was donated by Thomas F. Dewey, Jr. in 1991.  As Taft’s train steamed into Ohio on the 13th of May, Roosevelt was only hours behind. Thrilled at the prospect of so much attention, Ohioans along the campaign route quickly constructed makeshift speaker platforms, flew flags, decorated their homes and businesses, and organized bands and parades. With factories and schools closed, excitement reigned as thousands waited for the chance to see President Taft and the dynamic Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt was on the attack from the moment the "Teddy Special" rolled across the state line, but he resisted calling the Ohio-born president a "fathead" as he had earlier in the campaign. When the platform collapsed just before his arrival in Marion, Ohio, Roosevelt climbed atop a freight car to speak to cheering crowds. In Sandusky, Ackley’s Band greeted Roosevelt’s train at the foot of the Columbus Avenue dock. Women and children, who made up more than half of the crowd, scrambled to catch "Teddy buttons" and candy tossed from the train. At several stops, Taft’s train pulled away while he was in mid-sentence. At the State Theater in Sandusky, the president literally begged his fellow Ohioans for their votes. After 15 more speeches, the president grew so hoarse that he could barely utter a word. But Taft struggled on, traveling more than 3,000 miles before ending his campaign a day before the election. As the returns rolled in, it quickly became apparent that Taft had lost the battle. Ohioans had turned their backs on their native son, presenting a grateful Roosevelt with a landslide victory. But in the end, Taft controlled Ohio’s state convention and that of nearly every other state, giving him enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. Furious at Republican Party bosses, Roosevelt bolted the party and made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency as an independent on the Bull Moose ticket.