Crew Lands in History Books as Women Take Flight

--On the tail of Voyager’s record-shattering flight around the world, here’s another aviation milestone. When American Airlines Flight 412 from Washington touched down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 8:52 a.m. Monday, it did so without a man in the cockpit. The landing marked the first time in American history--and possibly in commercial aviation history--that an all-female flight crew was in command of both the cockpit and the cabin of a Boeing 727 jetliner. Capt. Beverly Bass, co-pilot Terry Claridge and flight engineer Tracy Prior all wore red roses in their lapels as they were greeted at the gate by about 150 passengers and spectators. “It was inevitable a flight like this would happen, and I was glad to be a part of it,” Prior said. Six weeks ago, Bass became the first woman to win her captain’s stripes for a commercial airline. Most women who fly in the cockpit have reached only the rank of co-pilot or flight engineer.

--The French butler who served the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at their Paris mansion for 40 years has been named in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year honors list. Georges Sanegre, who was holding the duchess’ hand when she died in April at 89, received an honorary Royal Victorian silver medal, which rewards service to the British royal family. The medal was honorary, Buckingham Palace said, because Sanegre is not British. The duchess, American-born divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, was shunned by the royal family after King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 to marry her. He was given the title Duke of Windsor and died in 1972. Also named to the queen’s personal list of honors was novelist Iris Murdoch and actors Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, stars of “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister,” which spoof British politicians and civil servants.

--Violinist Yehudi Menuhin says the secret of his musical genius may be that his mother, Marutha, sang to him before he was born. At the very least, he told an inaugural meeting of the British Society for Prenatal Psychology in London, mothers who sing to their unborn children give them a sense of harmony and emotional security. “I am sure that a baby which does not receive these melodic vibrations from its mother’s voice suffers from emotional starvation, just as lack of food leads to physical starvation,” Menuhin said. He said records and tapes are too complex for a fetus and cannot substitute for the physical vibrations of a mother’s voice.