EQUAL MEN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 260, 27 June 1932, Page 8

EQUAL MEN

WOMEN IN AIR DEFINITE CHALLENGE FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IN AVIATION. PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE. In this rapidly devoloping air age women are playing an increasingly important role. Year after year since the war the eyes of the world have been focused on the fascinating exploits of lone flying women winging their way across the arid deserts and tropical jungles of some remote continent. Again, too, the example of keen woman supporters of aviation who have accompanied slcilled airmen on- i many important long-distance flights over sea and land, as in the case of plucky Miss Salaman, has aroused widespread admiration and done much to stimulate the advance of aviation. Already on the chart of aerial progress the names of many famous pioneering women stand out, names that are associated with flying from its earliest days; names famous for individual effort or unselfish eo-opera-tion and support in important flights. Australia and the East, Africa and India have in turn beckoned airminded women, and some have flown solo across the wastes and wildernesses of the world. Most famous of all remains Miss Amy Johnson's epic solo flight to Australia; but Lady Bailey's intrepid 18,000-miles flight from England to South Africa back in 1929, for which the Royal Aero Club presented her with the Britannia Trophy, and many other great flights subsequently also place her name high on the scroll of honour. Mrs. Victor Bruce, for her lone flight round the world; Miss Winifred Brown, who won the King's Cup race round England in 1930; Miss Winifred Spooner, now managing a private landing-ground, are but a few other internationally-known women who have forged their way to fame in the world of aviation.. One of the greatest examples has been set by the Duchess of Bedford, herself a pilot, who, although more than 60 years of age, has amazed the world by her record flights with Captain Barnard to India and back in a week and to the Cape and back in 19£ days. Another woman who will be remembered for sharing- the honours of a famous flight with a man is Miss Amelia Earhart, who flew the Atlantic with Mr. Wilmer Stutz and Mr. Louis Gordon in 1928. In the light-airplane cluhs in all parts of the country women are taking an increasingly greater interest in aviation, writes Roger Fuller in the "Daily Mail." Daily in different districts women, young and old, are leaning to fly. In the last election several women pilots maintained fast transport in support of candidates. For several years now they have pitted themselves against the finest pilots in Europe when competing for the King's Cup or in long transcontinental trials. Already there are some two hundred fully qualified women pilots in England several of whom have carved out a career for themselves in the air.

in tne woiua ox aviaxion Liiert! is a happy equality between the sexes. Many fair enthusiasts have. taken up aviation with a thoroughness that .might edify their masculine rivals for aerial honours. Navigation, engine maintenance and repair, international regulation, "blind" flying, and night flying are arnong the subjects they have taken for specialised study. Lacking the necessary physical strength, women in many spheres are handicapped in their attempts to attain the same efficiency as men. Not so in the air. For temperamental reasons many women are better fitted to hecome pilots than some men may be. No. "heavy-handedness" is needed on the controls of a normal-sized airplane. A light sensitive touch coupled with the quick-thinking mind that so many women possess is essential to the first-elass pilot. At times flying can be extremely monotonous, and for long flights over uninteresting, strange country a placid temperament is needed if nervous strain is to be avoided. As has been demonstrated by innumerable long-distance flights in which women have taken part many have the ideal temperament for enduring long journeys by air. Apart from the women who fly for business and pleasure, hundreds of their sisters have not missed the example set by their keen interest, and wholeheartedly they are supporting the commercial air routes which one day will link the Empire in a great system of rapid, comfortable transport. Every year hundreds of women go up for short "flips" to accustom themselves to the air in preparation for the day when everyone will be so "airminded" that aerial travel will be a thousand times more popular than it is now. But for the fact that as yet travel by airplane is a fraction more expensive than the older means of transport the number of women using our commercial air routes for business and pleasure would be far greater. Nevertheless there is a steady increase in the numbers of women who set out regularly from Croydon for all parts of Europe. It is not unusual to see great Imperial Airways liners float down on to the "tarmac" with their comfortable cabins filled entirely with feminine passengers. Dozens of business women whose interests are closely linked with Continental firmS often journey to Paris and other European capitals twice in a week beeause they appreciate the comfort, rapid travel, the time saved when they use an airplane. And how many brides set out in blissful happiness for their honeymoon by air!