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OBIT

Aviatrix Betty Skelton Dies

The “First Lady of Firsts” was 85 years old.

Fearless pilot and auto racer Betty Skelton died on Aug. 31 at her home in Florida, a friend confirmed. Skelton was known as the “First Lady of Firsts” for her numerous airplane and stock-car records set in the 1940s and 1950s. According to the Smithsonian, she holds "more combined aircraft and automotive records than anyone in history.” She was the first woman to perform the daring “inverted ribbon cut,” which requires the pilot to fly upside down to slice a ribbon, and the first woman to drive an Indy car. Skelton was 85 years old and had cancer.

Read it at Los Angeles Times

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