RECOVERY OF LADY HEATH

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1929, Page 11

RECOVERY OF LADY HEATH

doctor Virtually certain

RESTORATION TO HEALTH SURE.

NO LASTING EFFECTS EXPECTED. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian Press Association. Received Aug. 1, 5.5 p.m. New York, Aug. 31. Lady Mary Heath continues to recover, states a message from Cleveland. The doctors are virtually certain her health will be completely restored and that she will suffer no permanent illeffects - from the injury received when her plane crashed at Cleveland, Ohio, Lady Heath was taken to a hospital unconscious and suffering from a fractured skull and probably internal injuries. The plane crashed , into a building and w-as wrecked, being embedded in the roof. Workmen released Lady Heath with difficulty from the cockpit. The mechanic escaped serious injury.

Lady Heath’s surgeons announced that they would perform an operation on her brain in an effort to save her life. They hoped to prevent meningitis by this means.

Lady Heath lapsed into semi-con-sciousness to-night, stated a later message. Her temperature, however, dropped to 100.

Sophia Catherine Mary, Lady Heath, pioneer British airwoman, was born in 1898. She is a daughter of Mr. J. Peirce-Evans,' of Knockaderry, Ireland. She began her career as secretary of the Ladies’ Athenaeum Club, and was one of these who founded the Women’s Athletic Association in 1922. She represented Britain in the javelin-throwing contest at the Women’s International Games at Gothenburg in 1926. In the same year, as Mrs. Elliott Lynn, she took to -the air, and was the first woman to loop the loop and to obtain a pilot’s license for carrying passengers on a regular air route. .In October, 1927, Mrs. tK ; Lynn married Sir James Heath, a rich ironmaster, born in 1852. Last year she .made the first flight by a woman from Capetown to London. It was carried out in a tiny Avro-Avian aeroplane of only 30 horse-power. All went well until she was approaching Bulawayo, when she had an attack of sunstroke, and after spending a night on the veldt was found unconscious by motorists. At Nairobi she was met by the news that the Sudan authorities would not let her fly alone over their territory, owing to the risks involved in a forced landing. This difficulty was overcome by her acceptance of an officer as escort to Khartoum.

At Cairo she met a similar check in regard to a lone flight across the Mediterranean. As no Royal Air Force aeroplane was available at the moment she telegraphed to Signor Mussolini for an escort. He sent an Italian machine, but it came to grief. Meanwhile she had flown to Tripoli to meet it, and on the way had a narrow escape from bullets fired by Arabs. Some of the bullets passed through the wings of her ma-, chine. Another escort being found, she reached Rome and proceeded to London, arriving on May 17. The flight was the first by a woman through Africa, and she was also the first person to fly alone from Capetown to Cairo. Lady Heath established an altitude record at Croydon in October, 1928, when she reached 23,000 ft. The previous British record was 20,000 ft. by Captain G. De Haviland. In November, 1928, she went to America on a lecturing tour and announced her intention of becoming an American citizen. While she was there a. piquant situation was created by the appearance in an English paper of a notice by her husband that he would not be responsible for any debts she incurred. To that she replied that the notice was unnecessary,' as she was entirely self-supporting. She denied, however, that she and her- husband had definitely separated.