May 14, 1938
Poor weather over Southampton, L. I., cancelled most events of the 3rd annual New England Intercollegiate Air Conference and thus the participation of Molly Cook Cummings ’40 in the .360 spot-landing event. Growing up with an aviatrix mother who flew with her small daughter under the George Washington Bridge “because it was so tempting,” Cummings was the only woman in the small, informal meet that included participants representing Yale, Harvard, MIT, Amherst, Pennsylvania and Kenyon.
When the rescheduled event took place, on June 12, a woman from Stanford had joined the conference. Cummings tied with an Amherst flier for 2nd in bomb-dropping and was 3rd in the .360 spot landing. Harvard was the overall winner.
The New York Times
Many years later, Cummings recalled her first competition, near New Haven. When her 2nd place finish in the spot-landing event attracted the attention of LIFE magazine, it also unfortunately attracted the attention of Vassar’s dean. “I was told,” she recalled in 2007, “I had no right to represent the college, as flying wasn’t in the curriculum.”
Greenwich Magazine
Students organized a Flying Club, independent of the college, in 1944.