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Aviators |
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Rosella Marie Bjornson |
Born Lethbridge, Alberta July 13, 1947. As a child she
dreamed of being a pilot. At 17 she took her first lesson and completed her
Private Pilot's License in just two months! She accumulated flying hours
while she did her studies at the University of Calgary and established the
first group of Girl Guide Air Rangers in Calgary. In 1973 she was hired as a First Officer with the
Canadian Airlines Transair. She was the first woman to be hired as a First
officer in North America on scheduled jet equipment and the first woman to
be hired by a commercial air line in Canada. She was also the first woman to
be a member of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association. During her second pregnancy in 1984 regulations were
changed to allow a pilot who is pregnant to fly. In 1990 she became
the first woman to be promoted to Captain with a major Canadian air carrier.
Throughout her career, she has made valuable and ongoing contributions to
Canadian youth by participating in school career day. In 1990 she was
featured in a poster campaign by the Alberta Government, Dream/Dare/Do", to
encourage young people to set goals and strive to achieve them. She is a
member of the Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.
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Judy Camerson |
the
first woman pilot hired by Air Canada.
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Maryse Carmichael. |
A
captain with the Canadian Air Force, Maryse had the job of VIP pilot flying
the Prime Minister or the Governor General of Canada. In 2000 she became the
first female pilot to fly with the Canadian Force's national aerobatic
team, the Snowbirds.
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Elizabeth "Betsy" Flaherty |
Born 1881(?)
. Died October 18, 1968 Vancouver, British Columbia. She worked as a buyer
for the girl’s clothing department of Spencer's department store. She flew
as a passenger on Trans-Canada Airlines' first cross-Canada flight.
December. 16, 1931, when she was 50, she received her private pilot license
making her the oldest female pilot in Canada. In 1936, she was the oldest
charter member of The Flying Seven Canadian Women Pilots. November 1936 the
club was Canada’s first all women dawn to dusk flying patrol. They took off
at 6:16 a.m. from the Vancouver airport. In 1940 the Flying Seven dropped
pamphlets over Vancouver urging support for the Canadian war effort. During
WWII, the club members were the first aerial woman’s training centre where
they trained women in parachute packing, fabric work and other aspects of
airplane care. Some of the trainees joined Boeing's Vancouver plant or the
Royal Air Force's women's division.
Sources: Vancouver Hall of Fame on line accessed December 2012. : Daring
Lady Flyers by Joyce Spring; No Place for a Lady by Shirley
Render: the British Columbia Aviation Hall of Fame on line accessed January
2013.
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Marion Alice Orr |
née Powell. Born June 25, 1918, Toronto, Ontario. Died April 4,
1995. She was fascinated with planes and flying since as a child the family
swing was her 'flying machine". Earning $10.00 a week at her job, she
ate very little and saved each week to pay for her first flying lesson
April 22, 1939. January 5, 1940 she received her private pilot's license and
by December 1941 she had earned her commercial license. With the help of
then husband 'Deke' Orr she received her instructors rating at Trenton ,
Ontario Royal Canadian Air Force base on September 25, 1942. The next month,
October 1942 she became the first Canadian woman to operate a flying club
when she was hired as manager and Chief Flying Instructor at the St
Catherines Flying Club. During world War ll the Royal Canadian Air Force did
not consider women as pilots and she ended up flying for the Air Transport
Auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force. After the War she returned to
Canada working as a flight instructor. In 1950 she became the first woman in
Canada to own and operate a flying club. During her career as a flight
instructor she would teach some 5,000 pilots. In the 1960's she became the
first Canadian woman to be a licensed helicopter pilot. She was awarded the
Ninety Nine Inc Medallion in 1976 in recognition of her outstanding
achievements in the field of aviation. In 1981 she was named a member of the
Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
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Molly Reilly. |
Born
Lindsay, Ontario February 25, 1922. In 1939. Molly tried to sign up with
the Royal Canadian Air Force, but they were not accepting women until 1941
when the Women’s’ Division was founded. She was one of the first recruits
and she worked in the photographic area to get to fly. She learned to fly
after the war and in 1959 became a full time charter pilot where she was the
first woman in Canada be a captain.
She became the first woman to be a
corporate pilot in Canada when she was Chief Pilot for Canadian Utilities
Company. She is a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
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Ellanne Roberge |
She became
interested in flying September 13, 1921 when an aeroplane, “The Polar Bear”
arrived in Prince Rupert. The plane was being carried by train for a special
flight from northern Canada back to Mexico. Unfortunately the plane was
damaged in a windstorm while in Prince Rupert and the crafty Ellanne played
hooky from school and obtained a souvenir of fabric torn from the wings of
the aeroplane. She was hooked on flying! Ellanne too flight training in
Montreal and started flying in 1929 earning private pilot license no.
678.In 1936 she was a charter member of the famous Flying Seven Club. In
November 1936
the women were Canada’s first all woman dawn to dusk flying patrol.
In 1940
the Flying Seven dropped pamphlets over Vancouver urging support for the
Canadian war effort. During the war the women ran the 1st woman’s aerial
training centre training women in parachute packing
fabric work and other aspects of airplane care. Some of the trainees joined
Boeing's Vancouver plant or the Royal Air Force's women's division.
Sources: Vancouver Hall of Fame on line accessed December 2012. : Daring
Lady Flyers by Joyce Spring; No Place for a Lady by Shirley
Render: the British Columbia Aviation Hall of Fame on line accessed January
2013.
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Alberta Margaret Rutledge |
née Fane. Born Edmonton, Alberta April 3, 1914. Died December 2,
2004. As a child she always had her eyes scanning for aeroplanes. She was a
female aviation pioneer who earned her pilots license in 1933 and her
commercial pilot license in 1935. She organized the women pilots as the
Vancouver Seven. At first the group was not allowed to participate in air
shows but these determined pioneer women were soon showing audiences their
skills. While working as a dispatcher for Bridge River and Caribou Airways
she was
often required to co-pilot flights making her the only woman
commercial pilot in British Columbia. When World War ll broke out the women
attempted to join the Air Force as pilots or instructors but were only
offered positions as cooks! Instead the women used their talents to raise
money for training equipment and established their own flying school. In
later years Margaret moved into administration at Canadian Pacific Airways
where she worked for over 20 years. In 1956 she married Keith Rutledge.
Margaret Fane Rutledge was inducted the British Columbia Aviation Hall of
Fame.
Source: Margaret Fane Rutledge…by Tom Hawthorn. Globe and Mail
January 5, 2005.
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Eileen Vollick. |
Born
Wiarton Ontario 1908. Fascinated by aviation from childhood this daring
young woman enrolled in a Hamilton, Ontario, flying school On March 31 1928
she passed the federal aviation test and become the
first Canadian woman to
earn a private pilot's certificate. Eileen soon moved to New Your, U.S.A. to
make her life but she had opened the doors of aviation to Canadian women who
would embrace flying careers as licensed pilots.
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Vi Warren |
Born October 17, 1919, Toronto, Ontario. Died June 27, 2014
Colborne, Ontario. As a teen the adventuresome Vi worked in her mother’s
wool shop saving her pennies to earn her pilots license. September 4, 1939
she took her 1st flying lesson. Her instructor even made a film
Let’s Learn to Fly, staring Vi. By her 20’s she was operating her own
business in North Toronto and teaching others to fly at Barker Field. During
World War ll she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in England and delivered
airplanes from factories to military bases. She logged over 600 flying hours
on 47 different types of aircraft. Back in Canada she met Arnold Warren (d
2000) at Barker Field. Vi became step mom to three children and the couple
settled in Sudbury working for Nickel Belt Airways training bush pilots.
Moving to Indonesia Arnold was able to train flyers but the country would
not accept a female instructor. Her flying career opened door to generations
of women flyers and also awarded her the Amelia Earhart Medal, the Rusty
Blakey Award and induction into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. After
two years they returned to Canada and Vi worked as a librarian at Orenda
Engines and the Ontario Water Commission. She became entrenched in life in
Colborne, Ontario by being active in the Rotary and hosting international
Rotary students who often kept in touch years later. She also volunteered at
the local school and the Meals on Wheels program. In 2004 she was inducted
into the Order of Canada. Source:
Obituaries, Globe and Mail, July 3, 2014: Danielle Adams,
Aviator blazed a trail for other women. The Globe and Mail July 31,
2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
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