The Powder Puff Derby was the name given to a transcontinental air race

Air racing

- History :The first ever air race was held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1908. The participants piloted the only 4 airships in the U.S. around a course located at Forest Park...

 for women pilots

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 inaugurated in 1947

1947 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1947:-January:* January 11 – The BOAC Douglas C-47A G-AGJX crashes into a hill at Stowting in southeast England, killing eight of the 16 people on board and injuring all eight survivors...

. For the next two years it was named the "Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation...

 All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race" (AWTAR). It was dubbed the "Powder Puff Derby" in reference to the 1929 Women's Air Derby

Women's Air Derby

The first Women’s Air Derby during the 1929 National Air Races, commonly known as the “Powder Puff Derby”, was the first official women’s only air race in the United States. Nineteen pilots took off from Santa Monica, California, on August 18, 1929...

 by humorist and aviation advocate Will Rogers

Will Rogers

William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....

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In 1977, rising costs, insurance premiums, and diminished corporate sponsorship saw the competition come to an end after thirty years. After the commemorative final flight, the Air Race Classic

Air Race Classic

The Air Race Classic is an annual transcontinental air race for female pilots. Route lengths are approximately . All flights are conducted in day visual-flight-rules conditions. Each aircraft is handicapped for speed and engine power...

continued the tradition for women pilots.

Read about the original race in: Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race
Gene Nora Jessen, 2002