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Around the world to Medford By Bill Miller Mar 21, 2022 01:00 AM A A Miller_Snoopin.jpg Just before 3 in the afternoon, Dec. 30, 1930, Mildred Bruce swooped into Medford’s new airport, missed the runway, slid through the weeds and mud, while her landing gear snapped off and the airplane overturned. The reception party that had come to the airport to welcome the round-the-world flier shouted and screamed as they slogged through the slop in an effort to rescue her. Suddenly, with the airplane’s wheels pointed up to the sky, Mildred nonchalantly popped out of the cabin, uninjured, dressed in brown tweeds and fur, her hair snug in a blue helmet. “Are you all right?” someone in the stunned crowd asked. Mildred laughed. “But you surely didn’t think I would be hurt,” she said. Then she ran around the plane, looking at it from various angles with a puzzled look and asking anyone who would listen, “After coming all these miles, what did I do? What do you think happened?” No one had an answer. The reception party’s mouths were open in amazement as Mildred, with a hand on a mangled wing, calmly declared, “Well, she is mendable, easily mendable. The same thing happened to me in the Persian Gulf, but it was a lot worse there. I had to wait three days for aid.” She assured everyone not to worry. “Lucky for me, I had just strapped my safety belt.” Local mechanics went to work and had no problem with the mechanical parts of the plane; however, it didn’t take long to discover the plane’s engine needed significant repairs that could only be made in Portland. “The little English woman, who has dared and conquered waters, snows, and air,” said a Mail Tribune reporter, “will probably spend her Christmas in Medford.” Mildred Mary Bruce, 35, had left England Sept. 25, heading east across Europe on a secretly planned solo flight around the world. Once she reached Japan, her plane would be stored in a ship’s hold and she would accompany it to North America, where she would begin flying again. Once she reached New York, another ship would take her and the plane back to England. There she would make her final flight to the very British airport from which she had taken off. By Oct. 3, she had reached Baghdad, but two days later, engine trouble forced a landing near the Persian Gulf. After waiting for spare parts for two weeks, she continued east, arriving in Tokyo Nov. 24. She had already survived even more engine trouble near Hanoi. On Dec. 12, her ship docked in Victoria, B.C., and a week later she flew to Seattle. After a stop in Portland, she flew south, only to crash in Medford. Mechanics discovered a missing bolt in the landing gear, the likely cause of the crash. “We don’t know whether it was gone before I landed,” she said, “but I think maybe they left it out the last time it was assembled. “So you see I was bound to crash someday, and I’m rather glad it happened here. It’s the first rest I’ve had since leaving England.” On Christmas Day, the first she ever celebrated outside of England, she called her husband and 10-year-old son. It was 6:30 in the evening in England. “Just in time to light the plum pudding,” she said. Mildred left Medford Jan. 8, 1931. Barely a month later, she was home and asking for a cup of tea. Southern Oregon had unexpectedly hosted the first woman to fly solo around the world. It was a pretty big deal, even if she never flew over the oceans. Writer Bill Miller is the author of five books, including “History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history columns and stories. Reach him at [email protected].