Post by Tamrin on Jan 14, 2009 21:15:04 GMT 10
Teenage pioneer Nancy Bird Walton
broke through barriers in the sky
[Excerpt - Article by Steve Creedy, The Australian, 14 January 2009 - Linked above]
broke through barriers in the sky
[Excerpt - Article by Steve Creedy, The Australian, 14 January 2009 - Linked above]
ONE of the final links to the early days of aviation in Australia has been broken with the death yesterday of Nancy Bird Walton.
Mrs Walton, who preferred to be known as Nancy-Bird, was taught to fly by another aviation legend, Charles Kingsford Smith, and was the first woman in Australia to obtain a commercial pilot's licence.
She pioneered an air ambulance service in outback NSW, became the commandant of the Women's Air Training Corps during World War II and was founder and long-time president of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
She was named a national living treasure in 1997 and her place in Australian aviation history was recognised last year when Qantas named its first Airbus A380 superjumbo after her.
She had been in and out of hospital in recent months and died yesterday of natural causes in the Sydney suburb of Mosman aged 93.
Mrs Walton, who preferred to be known as Nancy-Bird, was taught to fly by another aviation legend, Charles Kingsford Smith, and was the first woman in Australia to obtain a commercial pilot's licence.
She pioneered an air ambulance service in outback NSW, became the commandant of the Women's Air Training Corps during World War II and was founder and long-time president of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.
She was named a national living treasure in 1997 and her place in Australian aviation history was recognised last year when Qantas named its first Airbus A380 superjumbo after her.
She had been in and out of hospital in recent months and died yesterday of natural causes in the Sydney suburb of Mosman aged 93.
