Show Steno Writes Sky-Ad Sky Letters Two Miles Mil High INDIANAPOLIS IND It Its It's a stenographers Monographers business of course courte to write letters-but letters when one I writes letters In the sky which are one mile mUe wide end and two miles high that at certainly should entitle one oneto to a designation as a unique stenographer sten stene Betty is the stenographer who writes those huge letters In the sky shy The trim brown eyed brown eyed pilot pilot- secretary Is the only skywriter In Indianapolis and she believes the only woman skywriter In bus busi ness A year 35 35 year old brunet Bettys Betty's entire en en- tire tiro aerial career has haa been happen stance Born Barn In the Adirondacks near Saranac Lake N. N N Y Betty loved laved the sky and I admired wamen women fliers But she had spent seven years helping a music foundation In Newark N. N J. J before she went overboard for flying One of af her two sisters got her a pass on an a flight to Montreal That did It Betty started pilots pilot's training training train train- ing got gat a private license In 1943 1043 and enlisted as a women's wamen's air force service pilot pilat the following February After that tha she tested planes When the Wasps were disbanded dis- dis disbanded dis banded she stayed on at Napier Field Ala as a Link trainer JIl In fn for far a year But the end of af the war brought braught the end of af flying opportunities for far women wamen she found She served stints as an airline co pilot co-pilot and hostess hostess' in tn New Jersey ferried small planes for far distributors and then started to work werk as a pilot pilot- secretary for fer a New York coal wholesaler Then Bettys Betty's boss bess became became be be- came too ill to fly Answers Ad Answering an ad In a flying I magazine she came here in October October Octo Octo- ber 1947 1047 as secretary pilot to Rallin Rollin Rollin Rol- Rol lin H H. Stewart an automobile dis- dis dis dis- Stewart already had bad a aman aman aman man writing the name of ef his automobiles auto auto- automobiles mobiles in the sky sky- When the skywriter skywriter skywriter sky sky- writer decided to be a salesman instead Betty took toek over i After one demonstration she wason was wason on an her own I practiced making little crisscrosses crisscrosses criss criss- crosses and lining up letters Jetters she said New Now N she knows the flight night I plan for far her usual message by heart I You Yeu see see Its It's all done dene backward backward backward back back- back ward and upside down dawn she sh ex planned Im always thinking two letters ahead in order to save time A check with the airport weatherman weather weather- man shows whether the winds at feet are under 15 miles an haur hour as they should be I It shouldn't be too tea dry either because because beI be be- caus cause then the smoke is dissipated I I Sometimes a small change In altitude altitude alti alti- tude makes all the difference in the I world Betty said Climbs Two Miles Allies Climbing two miles she sights along a familiar road read or fence row I She pulls pulis the smoke throttle on an the left side of the cockpit in the AT I Betty the skywriter counts off aff eight seconds then shuts off the smoke The first line of ef the first letter Is don done dane She banks sharply and comes back to finish the letter If she's crossing a T she flies 50 feet higher or ar the slipstream would disperse disperse dis dis- dis perse the smoke In the first line Une ct et She uses the grid pattern roads and fields In the open apen fermiS ferm ferm- country around Indianapolis toline to toline ing S i line up her sky letters Writing against a background of fields and rivers Betty finds the letter B one of af the har r S Sois So SoIs I Is 0 but S isn't badBy bad By the time she has finished she may be on the way across acress the city 10 or 12 miles away from where she thousand thousand thou thou- started Sometimes she flies files a her check sand feet up Or br r down to spelling But not until she lands the plane does dees she know knew how bow it looks to people peaple on en the ground By then vagrant winds may have mixed two letters together and its it's usually all gone In 10 minutes minute |