Mary Riddle

Mary Riddle, also known as Kus-de-cha or Kingfisher, (April 22, 1902 – October 25, 1981) was the second Native American woman to earn a pilot's license. Bessie Coleman was the first to earn a license. Soon after earning her pilot's license she also earned her commercial license.

Early life Riddle was a member of the Clatsop Tribe in Oregon She was born on April 22, 1902 in Bruceport, Washington to parents Albert "Doc" Riddell and Elizabeth Salikike. Elizabeth Salikike's family name was also spelled as Salikie and Silackie in various sources.

Riddle said that her grandmother gave her the name Kus-de-cha, meaning 'kingfisher', after noting that her cries sounded like a kingfisher's call. Anthropologist Llyn de Danaan states that the word 'kus-de-cha' does not appear in the Chinook, Clatsop, or Lower Chehalis languages. However, 'kuśdecá' is listed as the Dakota word for kingfisher in the book An English and Dakota Vocabulary.

Riddle had two brothers, Thomas and Valentine. When Riddle was seventeen, she saw a woman fatally crash an airplane. The incident made her determined to prove women could fly well. to attend the Rankin Flying School in Portland, run by noted aviator Tex Rankin. Rankin, who also taught Chinese-American pilot Leah Hing, was interested in creating "a 'rainbow', all-female stunt team," but Riddle declined to participate, and the idea fizzled out. She flew solo for the first time on May 10, 1930. Riddle was one of three female pilots in the show: the others were Dorothy Hester and Edith Foltz. In August of that year, she made plans to fly to Washington, D.C., with "beaded gifts from Indian tribes of the Northwest," to be delivered to for "President Hoover and others." Riddle earned a limited commercial pilot's license in 1933. In June 1934, she was featured on the 99's magazine, The 99er. An all-around athlete, she enjoyed swimming, riding, "golf, tennis, and ice skating."

Parachutist Riddle later went to the Spartan School in Tulsa to learn parachute jumping. Though the school was all-male at the time, Riddle convinced them to admit her and graduated with honors. while touring the United States on "The Voice of Washington," advertised as the largest tri-motored plane in the world, on which she also served as chief stewardess.

Later life After the war, Riddle became a receptionist at the Gibbs and Hill firm in New York City but continued to fly on occasion and to visit the Northwest.