On January 1, 1878, Elizabeth Lippincott was born in Salem County, NJ, to Reverend Dr. Benjamin Crispin Lippincott, a Methodist minister who had served as the first superintendent of public instruction in Washington Territory, and his second wife, Deborah Hand Diverty. She grew up in Salem County with two brothers, Dr. Jesse R. Diverty Lippincott and Reverend Benjamin Crispin Lippincott Jr., in a home shaped by faith, education, and public service.

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In 1900, at age 22, she married Ulysses Grant McQueen, a wealthy New York City inventor and manufacturer born in 1864. The couple settled into a privileged life in the city, but Elizabeth’s restless spirit and constant companion, a clever parrot named Dick McQueen, who chirped “Hello girls! Can you fly? I can fly!”, hinted at the unconventional path ahead.

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When World War I broke out, Elizabeth left her home to serve in war relief under Field Marshal Edmund Allenby in Palestine from 1917 to 1918. Later in 1918, with Dick the parrot in tow, she visited wounded soldiers in Boston hospitals, using the bird’s playful antics to bring moments of calm and laughter amid suffering. 

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After the war, in 1919, she returned to Palestine aboard the steamship Ryndam and that same year, she co-founded the Jerusalem News, the first English-language newspaper in Jerusalem. It served the growing expatriate community and British officials during a difficult era.

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Her transformative encounter with aviation came in 1920 near the Aden Protectorate (the inland tribal territories under British influence surrounding the colony), when she witnessed seven airplanes scatter a large force of rebel Arab cavalry, replacing two full British regiments. She dedicated her life to aeronautics as an instrument of global peace. Though she never earned a pilot’s license, she studied aviation to champion its safety and potential in an age when flight was still met with skepticism.

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In 1928, after moving with Ulysses to Beverly Hills, Elizabeth organized the Women’s Aeronautic Association of California. The idea spread rapidly, similar groups soon formed in New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. By May 1929, these merged into the Women’s International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA), which became the central focus of her life. As a founding member, honorary president, and first vice-president, she built an international network promoting women in aviation and flight as a force for unity.

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That same year, alongside British aviator Lady Mary Heath, she successfully lobbied the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Paris to officially recognize women’s air records, a milestone achieved by early 1930. To inspire public passion for women’s flying, Elizabeth co-organized the first Women’s Air Derby: a daring cross-country race from Santa Monica, CA, to the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland, OH. Nineteen fearless women competed in what became famously known as the “Powder Puff Derby.” The event shattered barriers and propelled female aviators into the national spotlight.

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Throughout the 1930s, Elizabeth’s influence strengthened. She wrote the “Happy Contacts” column on women in aviation for Speed magazine (1932–1933) and contributed articles to The Air Pilot. Deputized in 1929 by Beverly Hills Police Chief Charles Blair as the world’s first aerial policewoman, she founded the Women’s Aerial Police Association in 1933, training members to assist authorities during emergencies. From March 1940 to February 1941, she undertook a Goodwill Tour across Mexico, Central, and South America, reading a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt and connecting with pioneering female flyers.

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Ulysses Grant McQueen died in 1937. Elizabeth continued on, often photographed with Dick, whose sharp eye and witty voice mirrored her own. She spent much of the 1940s at the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA, where the Famous Fliers Wall honored aviation legends. Around 1955, she married Dr. Irving Reed Bancroft, a prominent retired Los Angeles physician.

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On December 24, 1958, at age 80, Elizabeth died at her home in Hermosa Beach, CA, after years of declining health. She was cremated, and her ashes were interred at the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in Pierce Brothers Valhalla Cemetery, North Hollywood, a sacred space for those who dared to fly.

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Though she never piloted a plane, Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen lifted an entire generation of women into the skies. Her papers, rich with photographs of pioneers like Pancho Barnes, Alys McKey Bryant, and Evelyn “Bobbie” Trout, are preserved at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library. They document record-breaking flights and a lifetime of bold ideas, proof that one woman’s vision, fueled by conviction, could help change the world.