The Bushel Basket Hat

Commentary by Mary Sheppard Burton

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My Mother, whose name was Lizzie Alice Phipps before she married my Daddy, was the first woman ever to fly in an airplane in Salisbury, Maryland. This was shortly before the First World War.

Her friend, Fred Ennis, was a barnstorming pilot when he was a young man. There was no air park. Fred would swoop down from the sky in his bi-plane and land in an open field. Word was that Fred would land in a certain open field on Saturday afternoon. He would take people for a flight. A few came to fly and many came to watch. Alice decided to take the ride. She climbed into the rear cockpit behind Fred. On her head was her favorite hat, as big as a bushel basket. Nearly everybody in Salisbury watched this daring young lady as she and Fred left the ground.
 
Alice flew in a plane so high,
All the town watched her passing by.
The plane flew into a loopity-loop.
Alice let out a great big "WHOOP!"
Clutched her bushel basket hat
As upside down in the plane she sat!

"Footsteps on History: Tell Me 'Bout Series"
Family Portraits by Mary Sheppard Burton. Undated

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