Iris Cummings Critchell was a highly competitive person, and she used that competitive drive to succeed as a swimmer and, later, as a World War II fighter pilot.
At age 15, Critchell won the American national 200-meter breaststroke championship in 1936 and, in the same year, represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, placing fourth in the women's 200-meter breaststroke.
In 1939, she entered the University of Southern California's Civilian Pilot Training Program, earning a pilot's license the following year. In 1941, Critchell became a flight instructor for the Navy Cadet Training Program.
The following year, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, which became part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, better known as WASP, in 1943.
When WASP was deactivated on Dec. 20, 1944, Critchell joined the 6th Ferrying Group, Air Transport Command, flying P-38 Lightning and P-61 Black Widow fighter aircraft and the P-51 Mustang fighter bomber.
After the 6th Ferrying Group was deactivated near the end of the war, she married fellow military pilot Howard Critchell and returned to USC to teach aviation to veterans. During a luncheon at Los Angeles Air Force Base in March 2007, Critchell said her generation of fliers stood on the shoulders of those who came before them.
"Their dedication and competency made it possible for us to gain experience quickly and move into the ranks of experienced pilots to adapt in order to serve in World War II, and my place to follow on with a career in aeronautics for the next 65 years in flight," she said.
"Our challenge is to inspire youth to question and look with wonder at the physical world around them; help them be aware of flight, aeronautics and space; help them to welcome a broad physical and academic preparation for life; and offer the balance provided by our humble respect for those early pioneers of aviation on whose shoulders we all stand," Critchell said.
Her other career highlights include:
- Racing airplanes and winning the 1957 All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race.
- Founding the Bates Foundation's Bates Aeronautics Program, whose students included future astronauts Stanley G. Love and George Nelson.
- Serving as a Federal Aviation Administration pilot examiner.
Her awards include:
- Induction into the National Flight Instructors Hall of Fame in 2000.
- Awarded the FAA's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in 2006 for her dedication to airplane safety.
- Awarded the Nile Gold Medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 2007 for her lifetime of dedication to aviation education.
Critchell was born Dec. 21, 1920, in Los Angeles. She and her husband Howard had two children and numerous grand and great-grandchildren.
When she died Jan. 24, 2025, the 104-year-old was the last-known surviving Olympian of the 1936 Berlin Games.