A WOMAN AVIATOR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2684, 2 February 1916, Page 3

A WOMAN AVIATOR

In a cable message from London, a few days ago the death was reported of Miss Trehawke Davies, aviator.

Vivacious and venturesome as ever, Miss Trehawlte Davies loft London for Paris to buy another monoplane (stated a London paper not long ago). Her startling escape lias already been recorded —how, when flying, near 'Lille, the machine swooped down ■ to earth, and she and her pilot (Mr. J. D. Astley) gazed with surprise above the wreckago of the machine, each wondering that the other was alive. "But, as I always say to airmen," remarks Miss Davies, "those who aro born to be hanged will never be killed in an aeroplane accident. If my machine had not come to such a horrid smash I should be flying' in it again today. Nothing beats flying. It is tho champagne of motion.' Ido not think I shall ever tire of it. "There is, I believe, only one woman who has flown more than I have. I intend to break lier record. Not as a pilotj no; just as a passenger and observer. I am appallingly ignorant about engineering and its mathematics. I just fly because I like it. "Please express my extreme admiration for the coolness and skill of Mr. Astley during the perilous nioment at Lille. And I will tell you a story. As a souvenir he took one part of the broken propeller and I the other. When we arrived at Charing Cross we had the broken fragments in our arms. 'Been breaking up the 'appy 'ome?' asked u porter.''. Tho fascination of danger whilo rocked in an aeroplane in a furious wind was described not long ago by Miss Trehawke Davies, who was with Mr. G'ustav Hamel in her 70 h.p. Bleriot tandem monoplane' in a 60-mile wind. . "Every moment was a thrill," 'she said. "We were up three minutes; and Mr. Hamel was fighting for our lives all the time. Once he was. jerk-, ed .violently out of his seat, but lie recovered marvellously. There was danger in every motion of the machine. We'tossed and fell, and were shaken almost breathless. It was gloriously exciting. You never knew what was poing to happen next. The most excit. ing timo I ever experienced was in flying with the late Mr. Astley over Germany, Hollalnd, and Belgium, when I watched one of the wires getting slack, and ivas unable to do anything—even warn the pilot. I once wrote in the diary I keep while flying: 'This is our last moment alive in the air; it will be our first moment dead on the ground.' "I hope when death does come I shall fall several thousand feet, and be killed instantly, rather than drop from a short height and stand the chance of being horribly maimed and yet still be alive. I won't wear a lifebelt or a helmet, because I like to feel free to fling myself clear of the engine when the crash comes."