Phyllis Fleet Nelson Crary

Phyllis Fleet Nelson Crary went on to new horizons on February 10, 2003.

Phyllis Fleet Nelson Crary was the daughter of prominent aircraft builder Major R.H. Fleet. Her introduction to flight was in 1927 by Barney Oldfield in Texas, who showed her every known stunt, and Phyllis was hooked. She returned to Buffalo, New York where the Fleet airplanes were made and learned to fly. She was licensed in 1929 (in a Fleet biplane, of course).

She was a charter member of The Ninety-Nines, and despite living in upstate New York at the time, didn't attend the organizational meeting at Curtiss Field since her mother would not allow her to travel to the city unchaperoned. Being the only woman pilot in Buffalo, she didn't meet any other 99s for some years. Phyllis was the only woman in her class at Cornell University studying mechanical engineering. Early on she made a major flight from Los Angeles to Tacoma, WA in four days doing public relations work for her father and Fleet Aircraft.