Caroline Etheredge Hembel was among the first in flight.

Saludas Aviatrix
PHOTOS COURTESY CAROLINE HEMBEL BRAZIL

By Patricia Luken Smith

W
Spring 2006

hat makes a woman want to fly an airplane? What makes her want to leave the security of the ground, the familiar roles of wife, mother, nurse or teacher, to take off into thin air in a craft composed of a flimsy metal frame covered with even flimsier metal or canvas? What if there were mechanical failures? What if you encountered bad weather? What if you ran out of fuel? What if you crashed?
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Caroline Etheredge Hembel of Saludathe first woman graduate of the Civilian Pilot Training Program at the University of South Carolinawas unencumbered by the insecurities and fears that keep most of us firmly rooted in the lower level of the biosphere pursuing traditional careers and doing most of our traveling by automobile. The seed of her extraordinary life was planted by something familiar and accessible to us all. As a child, Caroline read and read and read . . . and read. She became aware of certain events occurring outside her country plantation world, including the achievements of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindberg. Her parents provided the fresh air and sunshine needed for the seed to sprout. Ora Hester Padget, her mother, graduated from a nursing school in Columbia before she married Rodney Hammond Etheredge, an English and law graduate of the University of South Carolina. Typical of 1920s parents, they had high expectations of their children. According to Hembels daughter, Caroline Brazil, they never gave her any idea that a particular field was off limits. Perhaps it was growing up with all the physical space of her rural roots and the psychological space provided by her parents that caused her to look skyward. But as important as creative thinking, parental encouragement and self-confidence are to a great career, education eventually must come into play. Caroline attended the local schools, graduating from Saluda High. She wanted desperately to attend Duke University, but high tuition and the long distance from home made it unfeasible, in the eyes of her parents. So she made a deal with her father. She agreed to attend his undergraduate alma mater, Furman University, for at least two years. If dissatisfied, she could transfer. She was interested in the technical aspects of medicine and pursued courses in preparation for medical school. She spent her college summers working in the X-ray Department of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. A by-product of her training and experience there was the acquisition of excellent nursing skills, which were much appreciated and in demand whenever it was necessary for a family member to go to the hospital. But the two years at Furman were unfulfilling for her, and she transferred to the University of South Carolina.

While at USC, Caroline heard of an opportunity for women to train to fly. She jumped at the chance. In 1939, she became the first woman in the southeastern region to solo and obtain a pilots license under the Civilian Pilot Training Program. But the following year her request for advanced training was turned down. Ed Nilson of the Civil Aeronautics Authority informed her by letter that since the secondary [phase of pilot training], in particular, is definitely a national defense measure at the present time, it is obviously inadvisable to accept young ladies for this training at this time. Confident of her ability and not understanding how she could be denied the chance to fly because she was a young lady, she appealed to Gov. James Byrnes. The result was her acceptance into the Secondary Phase. In 1940, she became a commercial pilot as well as a Navy flight instructor. She taught men to fly at Owens Field in Columbia at the time the United States was accelerating its preparations for possible entry into World War II. During her pilot training at USC, she met and became friends with Les Hembel, a flight instructor from Wisconsin. They shared an intense love of flying. Working around their busy schedules, they found time to fly together in the early mornings. In those days, it was customary for the womens dormitories to be locked at night. Dark rumors began circulating in the womens dormitory that windows had been found unlocked and there might be danger. As it turned out, no one was breaking inbut someone definitely was breaking out! Caroline was unbolting her window in order to keep her flying dates with Les.

hile Caroline was flying airplanes, her life was proceeding at fast-forward speed. In 1941, she graduated from USC with a degree in biology. On Valentines Day 1942, she and Les were married. The next year their first child, Helen, was born. A son, Henry Hammond Hembel, arrived in 1944. But their happiness was marred by the loss of her brother in the war in 1945. Caroline returned to Saluda with her husband, two young children and father- and motherin-law. She wanted to become a doctor or medical technician. However, Saluda had no hospital. A career in medicine was out of the picturebut she

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Husband Les Hembel, pictured on Page 18 during his years as a flight instructor, later operated a helicopter service, flying a variety of private missions across the western midlands. Caroline competed in coast-to-coast airplane races during the 1950s; daughter Helen (Page 20) also was a remarkable pilot. continued to fly. In fact, the family would continue to own an airplane for most of their lives and maintain a dirt airstrip on their property. In many ways, aviation was woven into the lives of the Hembels in the years ahead. Caroline was a member of the Ninety-Nines, an international womens aeronautical organization named for the number of its charter members. Amelia Earhart was the first president. The group began meeting annually in 1941. At the first gathering, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they drew up a resolution challenging the exclusion of women from the Advanced Civil Pilot Training Program. In a letter sent to President Roosevelt, pilots of the Ninety-Nines offered their services individually and collectively if the nation went to war. Caroline was active in the local chapter for years and participated in two of the many powder puff derbiescoast-to-coast air races. Her first was in 1951. She was sponsored by Saluda Hosiery Mill and flew with a stocking streaming behind her plane. In her second entry in 1955, she flew a Beech Bonanza 35 with Louise Smith, a friend from North Carolina. They ended the race in Asheville, landing in a driving rain. Two anxious and grateful husbands were there to embrace them. A tardy newspaper reporter showed up just as the couples were swapping hugging partners, and snapped a picture that subsequently was published with an inaccurate caption. It later was corrected to reflect the odd fact that Mr. Hembel was hugging Mrs. Smith and Mr. Smith was hugging Mrs. Hembel. Her life wasnt all about flying. Caroline helped earn a living and raise children, and she participated in the ordinary routines of a small town. Asked if her mother was a free spirit, her

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second daughter Caroline Brazil responded absolutely not. She possessed traditional, old fashioned values which she applied to her family and home life. She was a strong matriarch who kept tabs on the family. This trait extended to family friends. People would call her up to tell her what they were doing, her daughter said. Her intense interest in people naturally made them want to report to her. She loved to fly, but she also generally loved to go placeseven if it was the peach stand, Brazil joked. She played bridge three times a week and liked to entertain. This gave her an opportunity to indulge one of her passions: to hear about the lives of other people. She loved to listen to guests tell stories, and she remembered detailsincluding culinary preferencesfor years.

onsidering her unique interests, one might assume the Hembels were wealthy, as were many of the people with whom they associated. Such was not the case. They started their family life in a modest house with unfinished dining and living rooms. There were manufacturers stickers on the windows for years. The family ran a meat packing business, and Les operated a helicopter business on the side. Saluda was not a travel destination and there was no great need for a helicopter service, but he was determined and would do anything to make a go of itincluding the use of rotor power to help harvest pecans and dry off rain-soaked fields for THIS ARTICLE IS SPONSORED IN PART ball games. BY BANKAIR INC., WEST COLUMBIA. He once

flew into the SCE&G mechanical caverns near the Lake Murray Dam on a photo mission. His service eventually became the large helicopter training school known as South Carolina Helicopters. Caroline Hembel stopped piloting in the 1950s but continued to fly as a passenger and was invaluable as a navigator. Her children recall that their earliest trips were in airplanes. One of the family planes was a 1947 Stenson Voyager that periodically had to be recovered with fabric and sealed. This was a notable local event because highway traffic had to be stopped while Les taxied along the highway from the airstrip to the recovery shop. The Hembels passed their confidence and zest for life to their children. Helen Etheredge Hembel soloed in five airplanes on her 16th birthday and became a commercial airline pilot. When she retired from U.S. Airways in 1996, she was a first officer aboard a Boeing 727. She died of a stroke in 2002. In 1995, Caroline Etheredge Hembel was named South Carolina Aviator of the Year and subsequently inducted into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame. She died in January 2001 at the age of 82. Connor Clark Walker, son of Helen Hembel and grandson of Caroline and Les, continues the family piloting tradition. Having recently left American Airlines, he now flies for Edens and Avant, a private real estate company in Columbia. Patricia Luken Smith is a freelance writer and assistant branch librarian at the Lexington Main Library.

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