Wild and Wacky Woman

Liberty Express, July 1920

Miss Viola Bitters, Court

Clerk, Enjoys Air Voyage

"I wasn't the least bit afraid," said Miss Viola Bitters, Circuit Court reporter, upon her return to Liberty Wednesday from Vincennes, where on last Sunday afternoon, she sailed into the clouds in an aeroplane.

Miss Bitters attended the state convention of the American Legion with Judge Raymond S. Springer, the first State Commander of the war veterans' organization.

Miss Bitters was in the air for fifteen minutes, and soared to an altitude of 2,500 feet. It was her first experience in an aeroplane, but she was eager to make the voyage in Cleveland. Looking down, she said, the houses of Vincennes looked like mere toy houses. The 'plane rode very smoothly and easily except once in a while when it would hit a small air pocket, when Miss Bitters had an indescribable creeping sensation. 

It was impossible to tell without looking downward just when the machine left the ground, and when the machine began to descend after the flight was over, that too was known only by observing that the Earth appeared to be drawing closer. There was no feeling of going downward.

Miss Bitters was the only passenger in the machine at the time, the only other occupant being the pilot. Judge Springer had intended making a voyage also, but another woman so desired to go up that the judge chivalrously gave his ticket to her.

She took the ride in another aeroplane at the same time that Miss Bitters went up.