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Maxine Crookston (1915–2016) was known as “The Voice of San Francisco Airport” from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Born in Salt Lake City, Crookston dreamed of flying as a child and recalled jumping as far as possible from her parents’ porch while flapping her arms as wings. Crookston earned a B.A. at the University of Utah, an M.A. at Stanford, and taught high school English and Latin. However, her life's ambition was to fly as a commercial pilot, and Crookston acquired her private and commercial pilot's licenses with an instrument rating. During the Second World War, she served with the Civil Air Patrol as a survey pilot and with the Army Air Corps as a flight instructor. Excluded from civilian work as an airline pilot due to her gender, Crookston switched gears and was hired by the Civil Aeronautics Authority in 1942 as an air traffic controller in Salt Lake City. She transferred to San Francisco in 1946 and became the first female air traffic control watch supervisor in the country. Crookston was also a popular subject for interviews by Bay Area newspapers, radio programs, and television stations. After she married fellow pilot (and later air traffic controller) Eugene Schmidt in 1958, the couple settled in Southern California. San Francisco Airport, Maxine Crookston (Schmidt), air traffic controller late 1940s SFO Museum Collection In memory of Maxine Crookston Schmidt 2016.067.016 https://ow.ly/aCS250R2P9F
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