KILLED IN AIR CRASH

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 120, 16 February 1944, Page 5

KILLED IN AIR CRASH

Wanganui Girl Air Ferry Pilot DONDON, February 15. Miss Jane Winstone, of Wanganui, who was a ferry pilot* in the Air Transport Auxiliary, was killed while taking off in a fighter aircraft. The funeral will take place at Maidenhead tomorrow. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Winstone, Durie Hill, Wanganui, she was one of New Zealand’s foremost women pilots, and was a foundation member of the Wanganui Aero Club. She flew solo while a student at Sacred Heart Convent, Wanganui, when only 17, being the youngest aviatrix in the Dominion at the time. Before the war she competed successfully in many air pageants. Among the

heavy planes she had flown in New Zealand was the late Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross. A skilled pilot, Miss Winstone held licences for flying four types of planes. A Press Association message from Wanganui says that Miss Winstone took up flying as a hobby when a pupil of the Sacred Heart: Convent, Wanganui, and was then only 16 years of age. She flew solo when 17, and was the youngest aviatrix in New Zealand at that .time. She was a foundation member of the Wanganui Aero Club in the old days of Moth planes; and had the honour of flying tlie first official plane from 'Wanganui. She piloted Kingsford Smith’s famous Southern Cross on its visit to Wanganui, mid also Pat O’Hara's plane-which made tlie Tasman crossing. (She went to England in 1942. and was attached to the Air Transport Auxiliary. She was''one of live New Zealand ferry pilot girls. Tlie others are Misses Trevor Hunter (Wanganui). Betty Black (Dunedin). and Judy Howden (Auckland), and Mrs. Marie Furkert (Wellington).