WOMEN WANT TO FLY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4758, 4 January 1918, Page 3

WOMEN WANT TO FLY.

An interesting, if somewhat unworkable, project to form a Volunteer Filing Force for Home Defence pursuggested in a letter which certain members of the Aeronautical Institute of Great Britain have addressed to the press (says an English paper.) ' ' ... It is proposed that a force should be formed chiefly for scouting and patrol work, and that many of the machines unsuitable for actual fighting purposes might be utilised. It is further suggested that women pilots should compose part of the force. In fairness to the Aeronautical Institute, it should be made clear that this exceedingly novel' idea does not emanate from them. The Weekly Dispatch understands that several wealthy titled women are at the' back of the scheme, and are prepared to finance it once the necessary permission to raise the force has been obtained.

From the point of view of the aerial expert, however, the whole scheme appears an impossibility. While there are certainly large numbers of aeroplanes in Great Britain unsuitable for heavy flying, to allow them to be used by amateur pilots would be to court almost certain destruction.