Two veteran pilots touched down at Fairhope’s municipal airport on a Thursday in June to an enthusiastic welcome from two young girls who had spent weeks writing letters to the flyers before ever meeting them in person. The moment capped months of anticipation built through an “Adopt-a-Racer” mentorship program pairing local girls with competitors in the Air Race Classic, an all-women cross-country air race now in its 39th year.
Pilots Mary Wunder and Juliet Lindrooth, flying under the name Team Wunder Women, had just wrapped a 2,500-mile route that began in Virginia days earlier. Waiting for them at H.L. “Sonny” Callahan Airport were Ivy Laubinger, 15, of Semmes, and Lydia Stroud, 10, both members of the No Limits Girls Aviation Club, a program run through the Boys and Girls Club of South Alabama in partnership with the nonprofit Aviation Adventures.
The club traces back to 2011, when Mobile served as the race’s finish line and organizers launched a program to introduce local girls to aviation careers. This year, the club’s original members, Ivy among them, returned as mentors guiding about 30 younger girls who had joined more recently, while the effort has since spread to other Boys and Girls Club chapters along the Gulf Coast, including one on the Florida Panhandle.
Club leaders said the program’s goal extends well beyond flying lessons. Organizers described watching participants grow from shy and withdrawn into confident young women willing to speak up and explore fields such as air traffic control, aircraft maintenance and engineering alongside piloting. The program’s founder, an experienced air racer, said the point is showing girls the breadth of careers the aviation industry offers, not just the cockpit.
The visiting racers echoed that message directly to their young pen pals, encouraging them to pursue their interests regardless of skepticism from others. One pilot, who began flying as a teenager and now flies commercially, urged the girls not to let anyone tell them what they can or cannot do.
The Air Race Classic brought roughly 50 teams and more than 100 women pilots through the region this year, including a Kansas-based crew making their first trip to Alabama. Community events tied to the race, including a sold-out hangar party and a weekend open house offering free rides to local children, gave Fairhope residents a chance to celebrate the race’s return and the mentorship program it continues to inspire.