Anne Morrow Lindbergh (AML) Challenge Trophy

In 1930 Anne Morrow Lindbergh became the first woman in the United States to get a glider pilot’s license. The AML Trophy recognizes a WSPA member with the longest handicapped cross-country flight of the year. The contest runs from March 1 through the last day in February of each calendar year. WSPA’s AML Trophy Committee administers the award. Flight claims and applications for the award are to be made by filling out the
AML Trophy Fight Claim/Application Form and sending via email to trophy@womensoaring.org

 

 

AML Trophy Winners

 

1987 – Mary Hunt Rust 1988 – Julie Schneider 1989 – Ducky McEwen
1990 – Eulalia Nichols 1991 – Julie Schneider 1994 – Pat N. Spears (D)
1995 – Pat N. Spears (D) 2002 – Dale Pizzo 2004 – Kathy Fosha
2005 – Sarah Kelly 2006 – Kathy Taylor 2007 – Kathleen Winter
2008 – AnnaLaura Geusen, DE 2010 – Carol Mulder, CDN 2013 – Elke Fuglsang-Petersen
2020 – CarolAnn Garratt 2022 – Kathy Fossa 2023 – Cathy Keller

 

  1. The contest is open to all full members of the WSPA.
  2. Flights must be solo, There is no award for multiplace flights.
  3. Badge flights qualify. Record and contest flights do not.
  4. For goals and return, triangles, quadlilaterals or zigzags, a turnpoint may only be used once. Straight out distance flights qualify.
  5. Cross-county mileage will be multiplied by pilot and sailplane handicap.
  6. Sailplane handicap conforms to the latest SSA handicap list available.
  7. Pilot factor will be determined by the badge standing at the beginning of the flight. Completion of a badge during the trophy claiming flight will not alter the status at the start of the flight.
    • Diamond Badge 1.0
    • Gold Badge 1.5
    • Sliver Badge 2.0
    • All Others 2.5
  8. All Claims must be submitted using the AML Trophy Fight Claim/Application Form along with the appropriate flight record.
  9. The contest runs from March 1 through the last day in February of any given calendar year.
  10. Please request mailing instructions or submit your entry by April 30 to: trophy@womensoaring.org
  11. This year’s winner will be chosen by the AML Trophy Committee.

AML

IN MEMORIAM
ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH
1906-2001

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, famous through her marriage to Charles Lindbergh, had her own career as a pilot. Shortly after her marriage in 1929, she became the first woman in the U.S. to earn a glider pilot’s license. In 1930, she served as navigator, while seven months pregnant, when her husband set a new transcontinental speed record.

In 1931, she earned her private pilot’s license. Perhaps the most famous flight the Lindberghs made together was the 1931 Great Circle survey through Northern Canada, Alaska, and the Far East, described so eloquently in Anne’s book North to the Orient. Anne served as a copilot and radio operator in the Lockheed Sirius now displayed in the Pioneers of Flight gallery. The Sirius was also used for the Lindberghs’ 1933 North Atlantic Ocean survey flight for possible commercial air routes for Pan American Airways.

For her part, Anne Lindbergh received the U.S. Flag Association Cross of Honor. In 1934, she became the first woman to receive the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Gold Medal. Lindbergh established herself as a distinguished author as well; her literary works include Listen the Wind and Bring Me a Unicorn.