WOMEN IN THE AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20136, 22 December 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMEN IN THE AIR.

"JOYING DUCHESS' " CLAIM.. y»p» _ . - " . SEX EQUALITY QUESTION. • * PIQUANT TO PILOT. |

' An interesting, situation.<bas» arisen in the relations between the Duchess of Bedford, " the flying., duchess,"* • and Captain C. D. whb taught her to fly, and who has-qften piloted her 'machine on her air trips. , : ~ A few weeks : ago, Captain Barnard wrote an; article for tlig Dftiiyi' Impress, ; in ; which, lie»; 'Bf)idthat there; qould. be ; no, sex equftlHy*4i^the.:&ir., Women were inferior to men as jSyers,* he said, and." the side ot ayiation, > the' work, of hyiation and: hazard, .these will, fall' to the lpt'.of jpan to accomplish." • The JDuchess, of is in entire, disagreement wit her, pilot,,, and in a letter, •to t£p' Daily Exppeasexpresses her views with feminine! incisivehess. • She writes ' i" i am not inposition, to dispute the fact that women msjiy be inferior air pilots to men, as I have never flown with any, but 'I was undey the impression that one

of those—whose photographs have been, used— (Lady Heath) had - made*, an* alti-, tude. record for v light machines-; piloifecp neither by' a man or womiw, thought Captain Barnard says' that it 'is only a woman's record." , . M : • The -writer goes on. to say;—. Having Sbviously two women pilotsj-in fhjs mind: who have mide the 'flight aiotie between' England and the Cape within the last year, Captain Barnard says' that a' trip* from the North to the South Pole-under fair conditions is no test of airworthiness,, and that probably 90 per -cent, of the many ot men pilots in England to-day-could do it.- ,r ; "Possibly. But as two women pilots have already : accomplished the above somewhat exacting flight out of the very small number who have, as' yet qualified, it seems possible that the percentage might be equally high in tho case of women pilots wlien they, too, are numbered by ' many thousands.' . I am surprised to learn that lightness of touch, is of no value, because when with him in the air I have always been told by Captain i Barnard that the less the control lever is moved the better.

" Finally, I learn from his article that when a woman has been interviewed by a newspaper reporter or has written her account of some flight . . . the old phrase crops up again and. again, 4 1 was

not frightened at all, oven—' It is a queor thing that ono nover sees that statomont made by a man." Continuing, the Duchess further quotes Barnard as follows: . " Fear is ouly the outcome of this gift (imagination), and it is a function in itoslf. It stimulates the mind to its .higheat pitch of efficiency in moments of danger. When a woman says that' she was not frightened, she might-as well admit the absence of some other faculty, such as sight or hearing.' She is deficient from a mental standpoint."

In bd article written by Captain Barnard for the News of the World on his recent flight to India and back he says:— "Had there not been a fall over the cliff of 600 feet on- the other side I really do not think I could averted a terrible wash; Strangely; but I; con statelwas not in the least fright-; ened, and the .incident was quite forgotten once over the Channel," ; The Duchess 'concludes "as follows:—. ■" The fine distinction dra\\-n by him between the t\yo' sexes with regard to fear is difficult to understand. Biit: I'read that it is the mind that matters, and, as I am not a pilot, probably my photograph was used, to illustrate ft mental, deficieqt."