[1][2] It was one of many events at the National Air Races in Cleveland and the only one limited to women aviators.
[3] In the 1946 race, the five women flyers who competed for the first trophy were photographed for Life magazine.
[4] The first winner was Marge Hurlburt, who would go on to set a women's air speed record the following year.
[5][6] The women who flew in the race were limited to modified versions of the North American T-6 Texan, an advanced single-engine plane that had been used to train U.S. pilots during World War II.
New rules were also inaugurated that year, stating that the planes had to keep their stock engines and that wings could not be clipped.