User:Todowd/Miss Doran (aircraft)

The Miss Doran was a modified Buhl CA-5 Airsedan (NX2195) which took part in the Dole Air Race in August 1927, which involved flying from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. The aircraft and its crew of Augy Pedlar and Vilas Knope and passenger Mildred Doran disappeared without trace.

Mildred Doran
Mildred Doran, a 22-year-old who taught school in Caro, Michigan volunteered to be a passenger on the flight of the aircraft, which was consequently named after her. She was the first woman to take part in an attempted transoceanic flight.

The Last Flight
The Miss Doran was last sighted, at 15.03 PST on 16 August 1927, passing the Southeast Farallon Island 37.69915°N, -123.00184°W, approximately 70km west of its starting point. It disappeared without trace somewhere between the Farallon Islands and Hawaii.

Aftermath
In 1928 the Ontario Surveyor General named a series of lakes in honour of aviators who had perished in World War I or in the late 1920s, the latter mainly in attempting oceanic flights. Doran Lake (50.97°N, -90.59°W) commemorates Mildred Doran and Pedlar Lake (51.5°N, -93.7°W) does the same for Augy Pedlar.

Doran Tower (42.95982°N, -83.66691°W), a momument to Mildred Doran erected in Flint, Michigan, was demolished in 1973.