W.---  Cadet Polly Bernice Potter 
 flag usa  b. 1 Oct 1911, Portland OR 23 Apr-42 to 1 Aug-42 

 ata polly potter ross 1949 1949

     

 

 Father: Collyer Talmadge Potter, stepmother Neva J [Patterson]

Ed. Grammar School & High School

prev: Office, Airplane Sales, Demonstration

Learnt to fly while a secretary for a couple of flying schools (Pargon Flying Service and Pounder Flying Service) between 1928 and 1931, then built up her hours by working in sales and charter companies for another 10 years. In 1938-9 she moved to California to study aerobatics, then got a job with Falcon Aircraft Corp. to do "sales work, demonstrating and office management" until the end of 1941.

"If you believe all the hard luck stories you hear every day, it is hard to be convinced that the ladies are actually earning their living thru aviation. But here's Polly Potter in Portland to prove it is done now and then. As secretary of the Pargon Flying Service, Polly is able to keep both herself and old man depression pretty well up in the air most of the time." News of the Ninety-nines, Northwest Section, May 1932

m. 1932 Carl J Forsstrom Jr [divorced, one son Don b. 1934]

 prev exp: 835 hrs

Address in 1942: 2945 N Williamette Bvd, Portland OR


[Resigned - illness]. 


Flew back to Baltimore, Maryland on BOAC's Boeing 314 flying boat “Berwick” G-AGCA, on the 22 Aug 1942.

In July 1943, she married an RAAF pilot, Flying Officer John Nigel Ross, in Los Angeles, and post-WWII they ran a flight school in his home town of Kanimbla, Holbrook, NSW.

She then moved to San Diego in c. 1966, worked in Veterans Administration, and was a founding member of Silver Wings and the Flying Samaritans. [John Ross seems to have stayed behind in Australia, as he died there in 2000.]

d. 17 Aug 1997 - Escondido, CA

 

 


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