Vintage Poster Archives
Betsy Ross Corps 1931 | Women Pilots Recruitment Poster
Betsy Ross Corps 1931 | Women Pilots Recruitment Poster
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A white and grey low-wing monoplane banks hard against billowing clouds on a deep cobalt blue ground. Centred on the composition, framed like a display case, is a monochrome rendering of a sculptural trophy: a winged Victory figure on a crescent and star plinth, credited in italic script to Anna Hyatt Huntington. Three lines of bold red condensed type to the left state the campaign title: 'MERCY FROM THE SKIES'. Below, the organisation name fills the lower register in large red italic lettering, with 'Join to learn' in dark navy beneath it.
The Betsy Ross Corps was founded in 1931 by aviator Opal Kunz, chartered under the laws of the State of New York as a non-profit patriotic organisation of licensed women pilots and student flyers. Its declared purpose was to perform non-military civilian air work, thereby releasing men for active military duty. The Corps enrolled leading women aviators of the era, including Florence 'Pancho' Barnes, Marjorie Stinson, and Phoebe Omlie, and is recognised as a forerunner of the wartime WASP and WAC programmes. Anna Hyatt Huntington, whose trophy sketch occupies the poster's centre panel, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1932 and received the French Legion of Honour for her sculpture.
The foot text block names three named area officers and a local telephone number, placing this poster in a specific regional recruitment context rather than national distribution. Swann Galleries dates the design to circa 1931, consistent with the Corps' founding year and the references in the body text. Surviving examples appear rarely in auction records.
Reproduced on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper using pigment-based archival inks. The design resonates with collectors of interwar American aviation history, scholars of women's military history, and those drawn to the bold graphic language of pre-war patriotic campaigns.
