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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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Moretta Fenton Beall
'Molly' Reilly. |
Moretta Fenton Beall
'Molly' Reilly.
Born February 25, 1922 Lindsay, Ontario. Died November
24, 1980. 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 1st recruits and she worked in the photographic area
to get to fly. She
finally earned her pilots license after the war and in 1953 she went to
England to earn a senior commercial license. In 1959 she married John
Hardisty 'Jack' Reilly (1921-2003) and that same year,
1959, she became a full time charter pilot
where she was the 1st woman in Canada be a captain and the 1st woman
to fly to the Arctic professionally.
She became the 1st woman to be a corporate pilot in Canada
when she was Chief Pilot for Canadian Utilities Company in 1965. .She
was inducted as a
member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1994. (2017)
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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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Margaret Elspeth Russell-Burnett |
Born 1920? Montreal, Quebec. Died Matane, Quebec. Elspeth
moved with her family when she was a child to settle in Matane, Quebec. She
studied at McGill University, Montreal. She learned to fly and after 150
solo hours to her credit she was the 1st of five
Canadian woman to Join the British Air Transport Auxiliary. The 'ATA
Girls' as women in the ATA became known were called to fly and deliver
airplanes from the factory to the air fighter pilots. Women were not allowed
to become fighter pilots but they learned to fly many of the 99 different
planes to the fighting male pilots. Elspeth lied
about her age to join the ATA in 1943 as she was not old enough to meet the
21 year old requirement. The ATA girls flew often at low altitude
in all types of weather using such ground markers as railways to gain their
bearings while flying with only minimal instruments. In 1945 she married ATA
pilot Gerard 'Gerry' Burnett and the couple settled in Matane, Quebec to
raise their son. They founded together the Matane Air Services with Elspeth
doing often more than her share of the flying. She was the the only
commercials woman air pilot in Quebec during her career. The business was
sold in 1965. In 2002 Elspeth was inducted posthumously into the Quebec
Aviation Hall of Fame.
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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
1st 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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Violet Milstead-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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