SOME WOMEN AVIATORS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1522, 19 August 1912, Page 9

SOME WOMEN AVIATORS.

The number of women aviators in England is not as yet large, writes a correspondent iu the "Manchester Guardian." Prominent among them is Mrs. Maurice Hewlett, wife of the novelist, who obtained the Royal Aero Club's pilot certificate (being the first Englishwoman to accomplish this) last year, and she is said to be the only mother in the world who taught her own son to fly. The second English lady to obtain a certificate was Mrs. de Beauvoir Stocks, who Hies frequently at Hcndon. The woman who holds the distinction of being actually the first lady aviator is Mine, de la Roche, who obtained her pilot certificate in 1909, and who has flown in many lands—round the Pyramids, for instance—and who has met with some hair-breadth escapes and dangerous accidents. So far the death-roll of airwomen is uot a long one, mercifully—two French ladies, Mme. Deniso Moore and Mllo. Bernard, the latter killed when flying for her certificate, and Miss Julia Clark and Miss Harriet Quimby, who wero recently killed in the United States, comprising tho list. Mile. Dutiren (the winner of the Fomina Cup) is one of the best-known and most intrepid of aeroplanists, and she has made some remarkable flights, including one from'Blankenberghe to Bruges, when, carrying a passenger, she flew at an average height of 1200 ft. aud, after circling the historical belfry, alighted on tho sands-. Mme. Hcrveu, Mme. Franck, and Mmo. Martha Neil arc all famous for flying. It will be remembered that tho late lato Miss Harriet Quimby—the first woman in tho United States to gain a pilot certificate—recently flew tho Channel in a monoplane, starting from Deal and landing near Boulogne, being the first woman to accomplish this feat. Miss Trchawke Davies had flown as a passenger in M. Gustave Hamei's two-seated monopiano, and Mrs. Griffiths Brewer also crossed by balloon—the first woman to accomplish that mode of flight. Ballooning, which appeals more to many women than aeroplamng, has a notable exponent in tho Hon. Mrs. Assheton Harboard, who recently won the-Royal Aero Club's challenge cup for tho longest aggregate distance covered by balloon in three consecutive years. Mrs. Harboard also won the Krabho Cup for. tho longest voyage by balloon in 1906, and lately she gained the aeronaut's certificate given by the Royal Aero Club, carrying out all the | prescribed tests with great success, these , including a solo ascent in her balloon j Mercury. Ballooning is an expensive pas. time, which probahjy restrains some I would-be adherents, but among the best-' ! known women balloonist?, are Mrs. Grif- | fith Brewer, Mrs. Iltid Nieholl (one of the J founders ot (he Aero Club), Mrs. Moorei Brabazon (the donor of the Krabbe Cup), i etc. The Women's Aero Club in Pans is called La Stella, the president of which.. Mme. Surconf, lias obtained her pilot's license, and a good many Frenchwomen arc ardent supporters of ballooning. In England the Women's Aerial League has offered scholarships of .£SO for three years to a student of aviation, tenable at the Imperial College of Science and TechnoI logy. ,