In 1919, the New York City Police Department called for 30 volunteers for a Women’s Flying Corps. One recruit was 21-year-old Laura Bromwell who received her pilot license in 1919. She became a lieutenant in the NY Aerial Police and the papers hailed her as ‘the foremost American aviatrix.” Laura possessed the instincts of a bird and said: “I am willing to give my whole life to an airplane. I don’t want to marry and I do not want to devote myself to anything else in the world.” Off-duty, she flew a Curtiss Canuck for fun off Curtiss Field. People drove out from the city to watch. She set a speed record for women at 135 mph over a two-mile course and adored looping.
August 20, 1920, Laura Bromwell broke the world record, looping the loop 87 times. Afterwards she casually dismissed the stunt and posed for newspaper reporters powdering her nose. Bromwell belonged to the Women’s Aviation Corps, a branch of the New York police department. She later held the record at 199 loops. In June 1921, with a large audience in attendance at Mitchell Field, Laura went up to give them a show. Midway through the loop, the engine quit on the borrowed Canadian airplane and crashed. She did not survive. Her death was met with much conjecture on whether women should be flying at all.