Courtesy Andrea Niapas Helen Richey takes off into aviation history to set an endurance flying record over Miami, Florida, in the 1930s. Click photo for larger image

By Ann Belser
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

	Biographer Andrea Niapas describes the short, brilliant -- and largely forgotten -- life of McKeesport aviator Helen Richey in the audio slideshow "Lost in History." Click photo for larger image.

Helen Richey was never as famous as her friend Amelia Earhart, but by any standard, she was a terrific flier.

She set records for endurance and speed. She was the first woman in the country to obtain a commercial pilot's license and the first woman sworn in to fly airmail.

One of the only signs that she lived in McKeesport is the Helen Richey Field in McKeesport's Renziehausen Park.

But the McKeesport Heritage Center will soon have a new movie to teach visitors about Ms. Richey. "The Helen Richey Story, the Pride of McKeesport" is scheduled to be shown Oct. 8.

"A lot of people don't know who she was, let alone that she came from McKeesport," the producer of the documentary, Andrea Niapas, said.

	Post-Gazette archives This picture of Helen Richey in her Central Airways pilot's uniform ran with her 1947 obituary in the Post-Gazette. Click photo for larger image.

During Ms. Richey's life, she was very well-known around McKeesport.

She was born in 1909 and grew up on Jenny Lind Street, the youngest of six children. Her father, Joseph B. Richey, was the superintendent of schools from 1902 to 1935.

As a teenager she was one of the few girls who walked around town wearing pants.

She was 20 when she learned to fly a plane. Mrs. Niapas said Dr. Richey bought his daughter a plane when she obtained her license.

She flew an airplane with two open cockpits.

Her nephew, Guy Gamble, still lives in Ligonier.

"We interviewed him last year, how he went on jaunts with her," said Brian Grundy, of Unity Township, who is working on the movie with Mrs. Niapas.

They would climb into the plane at Bettis Field in West Mifflin. She would be in one of the cockpits, he would be in the other, with her German shepherd. They would fly off somewhere, have lunch, then come back. He would have to ride home in the sidecar of her motorcycle with her dog riding in his lap.

	Courtesy Andrea Niapas Helen Richey, left, and her co-pilot Frances Marsalis, peer from the cockpit of their monoplane after setting a 10-day endurance flying record over Miami in the 1930s. They were sponsored by Outdoor Girl cosmetics. Ms. Marsalis later died in a plane crash. Click photo for larger image.

During her life, she set an endurance record in 1932, partnering with another female pilot, Frances Marsalis, to stay airborne for nearly 10 days, including refueling in midair. In 1934 in Dayton, she won the premier air race at the first National Air Meet for women.

That same year, she was hired as the first woman to pilot a commercial airliner when she started flying for Greensburg-based Central Airlines, which Mrs. Niapas said was later absorbed by United Airlines. She also was the first woman sworn in to pilot airmail and one of the first female flight instructors.

She lost her airline job when she was pushed out of the all-male pilots union.

Robert Messner, a lawyer, historian and McKeesport High School Hall of Fame member, gave the speech about her in 2002 when Ms. Richey was inducted into the hall. He said his research into her life and how she was forced out of her career showed him the searing effects of sexism on women who tried to have careers early during the last century.

Ms. Richey continued to make money as a barnstormer, performing at air shows, and as an air marker, marking air routes on the tops of barns. In 1936, she flew with Ms. Earhart in the Bendix Trophy Race, a transcontinental air race, in which they came in fifth, beating some all-male teams.

During World War II she went to England to fly with the British Air Transportation Authority, moving planes for the Allies. When Jackie Cochran, the acting commander of the American women left, Ms. Richey took over duties leading the Americans.

	Courtesy Andrea Niapas Helen Richey, right, socializes with another Western Pennsylvania pilot, Theresa James of Wilkinsburg, while the two were ferrying warplanes for the U.S. military during WWII. Click photo for larger image.

Later in the war, she left England and joined the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, who trained in Texas.

She was only 37 when she died in 1947. It was an apparent suicide from an overdose of pills. She died in her apartment in New York City.

Mrs. Niapas said she became interested in Ms. Richey's story while researching a film called "Close to Closure," about the life of Amelia Earhart. She said she started researching Ms. Richey after seeing her obituary in the archives at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.

The film that she is making about Ms. Richey, which she said will be about 20 minutes long, will be on permanent exhibit at the McKeesport Heritage Center.

Share your memories

If you have a story or picture of Helen Richey to share, please e-mail postscript@post-gazette.com.