Death of Blanche Stuart Scott

On January 12, 1970, Blanche Stuart Scott died at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, New York, the city where she had been born.[2][12] Her death at about 84 years of age closed a life that spanned the transition from horse‑drawn transport to the jet age, and from women’s near‑exclusion from technical fields to their growing participation in aviation.

Obituaries and later historical accounts emphasize Scott’s pioneering status: the first American woman to solo in an airplane, the first woman to fly publicly in the United States, an early long‑distance record setter, and the first female test pilot.[2][11] After retiring from flying, she worked in radio and film writing and later served as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force Museum, helping preserve the history she had helped create.[3]

Scott’s death prompted renewed interest in documenting the contributions of early women aviators, many of whom had been overshadowed by later figures such as Amelia Earhart. Her passing underscored how much of early aviation history still depended on personal memory and fragmentary records, spurring archivists and historians to collect and interpret those materials before they were lost.

Today, January 12, 1970 is remembered not only as the end of Scott’s individual story but also as a marker in women’s history. It invites reflection on how a woman born in 1885 could, through determination and skill, help open the skies to generations of female pilots who followed.