WOMEN AVIATORS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19622, 18 May 1929, Page 10

WOMEN AVIATORS.

« —- AIR LEAGUE COMMITTEES. SPREADING ENTHUSIASM. ■Ff.OM Oi-'a D*S CORKESf Oi.DKKT.) LONDON, April u. The women's committee e# the Air League of the British Empire is to try to establish women's committees in every county in the country as a gleans of spreading enthusiasm for aviation. Lady l Bailey. who is now chairwoman of the committee, in place of Lady Heath, originated the scheme, and already wemen speakers a,re beiug trained at the Air League headquarters in readiness for the meetings whioh are to bo held all over the country, Meetings have already been held in the Ladies' Lyceum, Ladies' Imperial and Forum Olubs. The Duchess of Bedford, w&o owns a light aeroplane, and who uses it for touring England «ind for journeys to and from the Continent, recently eepted the presidency of the women's committee. X*dy Views. Lady Bailey, writing in the ' < Morning Post," says: 'Ag te women flying, women learning to fly, women being good or bad flyers—all those ridiculous questions get asked about women and flying, or women and any other mode of occupation these days—look at the drivers ef motor-cars on any arterial road ou a Sunday or a holiday, and ask the same question about the men '3 capabilities. And of the whole lot, both men and women, you can but say, gome have lenrnt, some have not, some are goad, some are bad, and so on. "I myself don't know any reason why women should not be able to pilot aeroplanes as well as men if they have the same chances of experience. But I do feel that it would be mora useful and more just to pronounce judgment on women as pilots on their standard of flying alone compared with the amount of experience they have had. I strongly deprecate controversy at this stage—i t is early days yet, and, except for two or three pioneer pilots, few tvomen have started flying, though their number ia increasing.

"As a novice myself, 1 doubt if I ought to express an opinion on this subject. But I am sure it would be wiser when tho standard of women's all-round capabilities as pilots is pitted against that of men pilots, if due notice were taken of the great disparity between the numbers of men pilots on the one hand, &nd women on the other, who have created their respective standards of living. Flying Clubs. clubs can do much good, as if any member, man or woman, were obviously never going to be really proficient or seemed likely to be a dangerous pilot, they would, I think, never obtain a licence. "I should say flying was probably like any other sport, such as riding, driving, fishing—that most people could learn how to fly, but that some would learn to fly really well. While natural aptitude must count for much, I suppose in most cases proficieocv is a. matter of practice and study. '♦l do think that if most of the ideas of the thrills of flying could be steadied down a bit, that the utility

of aviation s.nd the comparative safety el flying would be much mere widely realised.''