[10][11] She spent a great deal of time and money on her flying pursuits and always named her planes after Betsy Ross.

[3] On April 7, 1930, at the Philadelphia American Legion Benefit Air Meet, she became the first woman to race with men in open competition.

[13] Kunz gave frequent press interviews and radio addresses to urge more women to take up flying.

[17] On September 7, 1930, Kunz loaned her plane to aviator John Donaldson at the American Legion Air Races meet in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Donaldson suffered fatal injuries when the airplane fell from a height of 1,800 feet straight down into the municipal airfield.

As World War II approached, Kunz began teaching aviation students at Arkansas State College.

[31] In 1961, following after the historic space flight of the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, she wrote to President John F. Kennedy to volunteer her services as an American astronaut.