WOMAN’S SOLO FLIGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 16

WOMAN’S SOLO FLIGHT

AERO CLUB TRAINEE PROGRESS IN CANTERBURY Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, Today. ■’ Although it is less than six weeks j since the Canterbury Aero Club ! started training, two of its pupils were j sent off on their first solo flights yes- • terday by the club instructor, Captain I J. C. Mercer, N.Z.A.F. One of the | i pupils was Miss Arha Clifford, who is j | the first club-trained woman pilot to ! j “go solo” in New Zealand. The other j j pupil was Mr. R. W. Norman. Miss Clifford, who took the air iu ! Auckland during a recent stay, made I j several circuits of the airdrome, and j |on each occasion made a beautiful I landing. She was one of the first | | batch of pupils who began instruction j jon May 2. Since then, although she j j has spent much of her time away j from Christchurch, she has put in j eight hours’ instruction with the instructor. j The only woman who has taken a | | pilot’s licence in New Zealand is ! Mrs. Gladys Sandford, who qualified ! lat Wigram Airdrome about three S ! years ago. It is probable that Miss | Clifford will be the second woman in j New Zealand to get her “ticket.” | Several more pupils are nearly ! ready to go solo, and Captain Mercer | considers that in the near future he 1 will have quite a number ready to ! attempt the examination for their ] licences.