Airport name

In 1951, the Bentonville airport was named after Louise McPhetridge Thaden who was born in Bentonville on Nov. 12, 1905. She was aviation pioneer and set the women’s altitude record, solo endurance record and speed record in the late 1920s. She was the most famous female American aviator of her time, only after Amelia Earhart, according to the city. She earned her pilot’s certificate in 1928: number 850, signed by Orville Wright. She co-founded, with Earhart, the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for female pilots. In 1936, Thaden and co-pilot Blanche Noyes became the first women to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race. Thaden School downtown also is named after her as is the fieldhouse at the airport and the restaurant inside.