WOMAN AIR PILOT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1937, Page 11

WOMAN AIR PILOT

VISITOR TO AUCKLAND

Fear appears to be an unknown quantity with Mrs. Moye W. Stephens, a charming young Italian at present in Auckland, whose hobbies include motor racing and flying, states the "New Zealand Herald." Mrs. Stephens, who was formerly Countess Gadina Deituriani, was married to Mr. Moye Stephens in Los Angeles on April 26 of this year and is visiting Auckland in the course of. her noneymoon trip. He* husband is a distinguished American aviator who is at present a test pilot on the? staff of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and is in New Zealand to superintend the assembling of three Lockheed Electra aeroplanes.

Until the fascination of flying captured Mrs. Stephens to the exclusion of most other hobbies, she was an enthusiastic car driver and took part in several important motor-car races in Italy. She obtained her pilot's licence in Los Angeles in 1928, being the first Italian woman to obtain this distinction in the United States, and for many years after that used her ow:i private aeroplane as a means of daily transport.

Involved in two flying crashes, one in Dijon, France, and the other in the United States, Mrs. Stephens was still undaunted and continued flying until about a year ago, when a spell of bad health compelled her to retire temporarily from the flying field. In neither of tha crashes in which she was involved was Mrs. Stephens hurt and in both cases the machine was piloted by someone else. "Crashing is just part of the business of flying," Mrs. Stephens laughed. "I never feel afraid when I am in the air."

Mrs. Stephens has lived an interesting life, having resided in Russia and Austria as well as . her native Italy and the United States, while she has visited almost every country of the world with the exception of the Orient. For some time she was. a maid of honour at the court of the Duchess D'Aosta, whose husband is a"; frst cousin ,to. King Emmanuel of Italy. .