Born: 9 December 1915, United States
Died: 28 March 2005
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Pearl Carter
The following is republished from the Federal Aviation Administration and was written Hannah Chan. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
At age 14, the average student is starting high school. But that was not the case for Eula “Pearl” Carter Scott, the youngest American pilot. Scott was born on December 9, 1915, to George W. Carter, a wealthy businessman, and Lucy Gibson Carter, an original enrollee (member) of the Choctaw Nation who resided in the Chickasaw Nation. Lucy was a full-blooded Choctaw and Eula was half Choctaw. Since the family lived in Marlow, Oklahoma, part of the Chickasaw Nation, Eula is listed in Chickasaw sources.
Scott learned how to navigate vehicles at a young age. She received her first car, a Durant Sport Roadster, when she was 11 years old and taught herself how to drive it by age 12. Scott’s sense of independence at a very young age may seem strange for the modern-day person, but for the Scott family, it was normal. George Carter lost his eyesight at the age of 16. As a result, Eula served as his eyes, doing whatever he could not do. This included reading the paper or driving him places. But even with her responsibilities at home, Scott was not confined to the ground, she was destined to take to the skies.
Wiley Post, aviation pioneer and one of the country’s greatest aviators, was a longtime family friend of the Carter family. Post’s brother lived across the street from the Carter residence. Every time Post visited his brother, he would land in one of Carter’s pastures at the Carter Airport. During one of his visits in 1927, he took Pearl on her first plane ride. Scott immediately fell in love with aviation and flight. She recalled, “I knew right then, while I was in the air with Wiley that first day, that I would fly someday. I asked him a hundred questions while we were up in the air, and as soon as he set the plane down, I ran over and told Daddy that I wanted to learn to fly.” From then on, Post became her flight instructor, and by age 13, Scott received her pilot’s license.
After receiving her federal license, her father bought her a Curtiss Robbin monoplane for $4,500.7 Scott was surprised by her gift. She recalled, “You have to remember, that was in 1928. That was an awful lot of money back then. I had never wanted anything that my Daddy didn’t get me, but even I was a little surprised at getting my own airplane. Enormously exciting.” Scott used this airplane to accomplish her most remembered feat, her first solo flight at age 14 on September 12, 1930, making her the youngest American aviator at the time.
Although Scott remembered her historic flights as “enormously exciting,” she did not consider them “her greatest achievements.” After her first solo flight, Scott flew as a stunt pilot, traveling across Oklahoma as part of a barnstorming show. Yet, even though she became a famous aviator, Scott still went to school and participated in other activities. She attended Marlow High School and Bloomfield Indian Academy, won violin awards, and was an officer of the Junior Woodmen of the World. She, however, still served as her father’s eyes, accompanying him on trips and flying him in his Curtiss-Robin plane.
She continued to fly after getting married at age 16 to Louis Scott and having her first child. But after having her second child, she abruptly stopped flying, realizing that “if anything at all happened, I’d have two babies who would have to grow up without a mother.” For Scott, “the greatest thing [she’s] done in this life, and the most exciting, was to be a mother to [her] three children. Being a mother was so much more important than flying an airplane, and a lot more dangerous at times.” She only flew one more time after ending her career, when Wiley Post allowed her to pilot his famous “Winnie Mae” Lockheed Vega airplane.
In 1972, Scott began her public service career after studying at the Desert Willow Indian Training Center, becoming one of Chickasaw Nation’s first community health representatives and one of the first seven paid employees of the nation. In 1983, she was elected to the Chickasaw legislature, becoming the first woman legislator of the Chickasaw Nation. During her three-term tenure, she oversaw growth in tribal operations and service.
Eula Pearl Carter Scott was more than just an aviator; she was a mother, a health representative, and a legislator. She dedicated her second career to improving the lives of the Chickasaw Nation. But the aviation community never forgot her contributions and achievements. She was an inductee of the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Air and Space Museum Hall of Fame, as well as a charter member of the National Museum of the American Indian. She was also inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame in 1995 for her public service for the nation.
Even after her death on March 28, 2005, Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Nation continued to remember her. In 2010, the Chickasaw Nation produced the film “Pearl”, which covered Scott’s teen years. The film won multiple awards from the Indie Fest and the International Cherokee Film Fest, as well as showcased at the Center Film Festival and the American Film Institution Dallas International Film Festival. The Chickasaw Heritage Series also produced an episode on Scott titled “Pearl Carter Scott: On Top of the World.”