{{Short description|Canadian aviator (1905–1927)}} {{Infobox aviator |name=Mildred Doran |image=Dole Air Race Buhl CA-5 Air Sedan NX2915 Miss Doran.jpg |caption=Mildred Doran in front of the plane |full_name= Mildred Alice Doran |birth_date=10 May 1905<ref>''Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913''</ref> |birth_place=Renfrew, Ontario, Canada <ref>Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1963</ref> |death_date=16 August 1927 (aged 22) |death_place=Pacific Ocean }} right|thumb|Prototype Buhl Airsedan, the type of plane Mildred Doran entered into the Dole Air Race Derby in 1927 '''Mildred Alice Doran''' (10 May 1905 – 16 August 1927) was a Canadian aviation enthusiast <!-- her naturalization status in the 1920 Census was "alien" --> who was the only woman to enter the Dole Air Race in 1927, created to be the first to fly from California to Hawaii. During the race, she and several other competitors disappeared.
== Early life and education == Doran was born in Ontario to a Canadian father, William Doran, a farmer, and American mother, Minnie Doran. She was raised in Flint, Michigan.<ref>''1920 United States Federal Census''</ref> Her mother, who was born in Michigan, died 2 December 1921 when Mildred was 16.<ref>Michigan, U.S., Death Records, 1867-1952, Minnie Mae Doran (1922) Genessee County, Death Records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan.</ref> She raised her younger sister, Helen, and her brothers William and Floyd. Doran worked her way through high school as a telephone operator, continuing to do so after her graduation in 1924. A local businessman and owner of the Lincoln Petroleum Company, William Malloska, heard about her and paid for her to attend a teacher's course at Michigan State Normal School. She became interested in flying at a local airshow while she was in college. By the time of the race she was about 22 years old and working as a fifth-grade school teacher in Caro, Michigan.<ref name="Burnett2011">{{cite book |author=Burnett |first=Claudine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSR5BwlJrXgC&pg=PA111 |title=Soaring Skyward: A History of Aviation in and around Long Beach, California |date=4 November 2011 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4670-3360-2 |pages=111–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://yesteryearsnews.wordpress.com/tag/william-malloska/ |title=William Malloska |accessdate= December 2, 2016}}</ref><ref name="News">{{cite news |author= |date=August 2, 1927 |title=not given |page= 7 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/alaska/fairbanks/fairbanks-daily-news-miner/1927/08-02/page-7?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=8&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30 |url-access=subscription |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |newspaper=Fairbanks Daily News Miner}}</ref><ref name="News 2">{{cite news|author= |title= not given |date=August 19, 1927 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/michigan/benton-harbor/benton-harbor-news-palladium/1927/08-19?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30&ndt=by&py=1920&pey=1929&pci=7/ |url-access=subscription |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |page=Front Page |via=newspaper Archive |newspaper=Benton Harbor News Palladium}}</ref>
While in college, Doran became a member of Alpha Sigma Tau.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fraternityhistory.com/whm-mildred-doran-alpha-sigma-tau-aviator/|title= Mildred Doran, Alpha Sigma Tau Aviator|last=Becque|first=Fran |date=2016-03-14|website=Fraternity History & More|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref>
==The air-race== Doran convinced Malloska to enter an airplane in the Dole Air Race and to allow her to fly along. The plane, a biplane Buhl Airsedan (registration NX2915), was named the ''Miss Doran'' in her honour. The pilot was John 'Auggy' Pedlar and the navigator was Vilas Knope.
Because of the attitudes of the day, Doran was popular for interviews with the press.<ref name="ReutherLarkins2008">{{cite book |author1=Ronald T. Reuther|author2=William T. Larkins |title=Oakland Aviation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd0Ciei_IYoC&pg=PA26 |year=2008 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-5600-0 |pages=26–}}</ref> It was considered strange for a woman to take part. She was quoted as saying “A woman should fly just as easily as a man.… Women certainly have the courage and tenacity required for long flights.”<ref name="Airspacemag.com">{{cite web |first=Richard A. |last= Durose |date=March 2011 |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/above-and-beyond-aunt-mildred-79371463/|title=Above & Beyond: Aunt Mildred|accessdate=December 2, 2016|website=Air and Space Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref> Doran wanted to be the first woman to make such an ocean flight. She had been on long overland flights with the crew before.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/waterloo/waterloo-evening-courier/1927/08-01?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=8&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30/ |title= Front Page |newspaper=Waterloo Evening Courier |date=August 1, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="News"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/lima/lima-news/1927/07-07?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pci=7&ndt=ex&pm=7&py=1927&psb=dateasc&pr=30/ |title=Front Page |newspaper=Lima News |date= July 7, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Despite engine trouble early in the race, and attempts by the crew and crowd to get her to remain behind, Doran stayed with the plane. However, although other planes arrived in Hawaii, nothing was heard from the ''Miss Doran'' or her crew again. There was a search by the Army and Navy, and also a competitor's plane which then also went missing after joining the search.<ref name="Airspacemag.com" /><ref name="This day">{{cite web |date=2018 |first= Bryan R. |last= Swopes |url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/16-august-1927/|title=16 August 1927: The Dole Air Race |work= This Day in Aviation |accessdate=December 2, 2016}}</ref><ref name="time">{{cite web|url=https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/john-pedlar-vilas-knope-and-mildred-doran |title=John Pedlar, Vilas Knope, and Mildred Doran |accessdate=December 2, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Dmairfield.com">{{cite web |url=http://dmairfield.com/people/doran_mi/index.html |title=The Mildred Doran Page of the |accessdate=December 2, 2016|work=Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website}}</ref><ref name="DMairfield.com">{{cite web|url=http://dmairfield.com/Collections/Cosgrove%20Collection/People/P-S/index.html|title=The Cornelius Burton Cosgrove, Jr. Photograph and Document Collection |accessdate=December 2, 2016|work=Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website}}</ref><ref name="Sfmuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/27dolerace.html |title= Pioneer Pacific Fliers wrote Tragic Chapter In Air History |last=Eshleman Conant |first=Jane |newspaper = San Francisco Call-Bulletin |date= October 10, 1955 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926211940/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/27dolerace.html|archivedate=September 26, 2011|url-status=dead |accessdate=December 2, 2016 |via=Sfmuseum.org}}</ref><ref name="Panam">{{cite web|url=http://www.panam.org/take-off/532-dole-2|title=Lessons Learned, 1927 |work= Pan Am Historical Foundation|accessdate=December 2, 2016}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=January 2024}}
James Dole offered $20,000 to find the missing planes. Malloska added $10,000 to find his friend and the others. Hearst also added a reward. There were many tributes after her death. Ontario, Canada named a lake in her honour and Doran Tower was put up beside Lincoln Field in Flint. The tower was destroyed in 1973 because the owner could no longer afford the taxes.<ref name="Airspacemag.com"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/oakland/oakland-tribune/1957/08-11/page-113?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30 |title=Oakland Tribune |date=August 11, 1957 |page= 113 |newspaper=Oakland Tribune|accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/bakersfield/bakersfield-californian/1927/08-19?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30/ |title=August 19, 1927 |date=August 19, 1927 |page= Front Page |newspaper=Bakersfield Californian|accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/altoona/altoona-mirror/1927/08-18?tag=mildred+doran&rtserp=tags/mildred-doran?pr=30/ |title=Altoona Mirror |page=Front Page |newspaper=Altoona Mirror |date=August 18, 1927 |author= |accessdate= December 2, 2016 |via=Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="News 2"/>
==See also== *List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== {{Commons category}} *{{cite book|first=Kathleen L.|last=Brooks-Pazmany|title=United States Women in Aviation, 1919-1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNj6CdrZZMIC|year=1983|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|isbn=978-0-87474-709-6 }} *{{cite book|first=Lawrence R.|last=Gustin|title=Picture history of Flint: the Flint journal centennial, 1876-1976|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bKPhAAAAMAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=978-0-8028-7036-0}} *{{cite book|title=New York State Education|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHVLAAAAYAAJ|year=1928|publisher=New York State Teachers Association.}} *{{cite book|first=Robert F.|last=Pauley|title=Michigan Aircraft Manufacturers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BY-Lljez7HwC&pg=PA45|date=3 August 2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-4396-3514-8|pages=45–}} *{{cite book|first=Constance|last=Penley|title=NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBEWH97mGVsC&pg=PA38|year=1997|publisher=Verso|isbn=978-0-86091-617-8|pages=38–}} *{{cite book|first=Cecil R.|last=Roseberry|title=The Challenging Skies: The Colorful Story of Aviation's Most Exciting Years, 1919-1939|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9w8zAAAAMAAJ|year=1966|publisher=Doubleday}} *{{cite book|first=John|last=Tayman|title=The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKUaLE6s1lgC&pg=PA217|date=11 May 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-5192-8|pages=217–}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doran, Mildred}} Category:1905 births Category:1927 deaths Category:Aviators from Michigan Category:Canadian women aviators Category:People from Flint, Michigan Category:People lost at sea Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927 Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in international waters Category:20th-century American people