Dates

• Existence: 1894 - 1980

Biographical Note: Maude McClaine

Maude McClaine was an early female aviator from the Pacific Northwest.

Maude Josephine (Bateham) McClaine was born on April 23, 1894 in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was the daughter of Anson P. Bateham, who worked in the oil industry. She attended the Portland Academy [in Portland, Oregon?] and she lived in Tacoma before getting married to Adolphus Fielding McClaine, Jr. in 1915. He had attended Cornell University and was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. He went on to work in the oil industry. They settled in Spokane, Washington after their marriage.

McClaine became interested in aviation when she met aviator Frank Hawks in the late 1920s. She studied flying in 1929 under Nick Mamer and Dick Gleeson of Mamer Flying Service, Inc. at Felts Field in Parkwater, Washington. She had one and a half months of flying instruction as well as four weeks of mechanical training on OX5 motors. She had the distinction of being the first woman flyer to earn her wings at a Northwest air school, and when she earned her limited commercial pilot's license in 1930 she was one of only 25 women in the country to have one.

McClaine was known as a society woman in Spokane. She was active with the Spokane Junior Leage and with the Spokane Figure Skating Club. She was also fond of gardening.

She died in 1980 and is buried in Fairmount Memorial Park, Spokane.

Places

• Spokane (Wash.) (Residence)
• Washington (State) (Residence)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records: