WOMEN’S FLYING CLUB

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21085, 11 July 1938, Page 10

WOMEN’S FLYING CLUB

MORE THAN 100 MEMBERS What may become the first women’s flying club has lately made a good start as an offshoot of the Romford Flying Club. Over a hundred young women are now members of the special patrol, organised locally and drawing its membership from many parts of London and the surrounding district. The movement has been supported by the people in the Romford area, and the funds which they have raised have enabled the chief organiser (Mr R. Gordon, managing director of the club) and the instructor (Mrs Gabrielle Patterson) to arrange lor them to liav. 'ying instruction at the rate of 15/- an hour. The members pay a subscription of 6d a week. In return they may attend two lectures a week and receive practical ground training in the hangar and on the Maylands aerodrome, which the club occupies. Because of the rate at which the membership has grown, Mrs Patterson has divided the girls into four flights, so that they may attend on alternate Saturdays or Sundays for training and flying instruction. A few find it more convenient to visit the aerodrome on other days. For the present the women’s patrol makes use of the club aeroplanes. The fleet of two Spartans and one Cirrus Moth has been increased by two Gipsy Moths. Since the movement has been so much dependent on funds raised locally it has been placed for purposes of administration in the hands of a local council, of which Mr R. Gordon is the c’ airman and other members are the Mayor and Mayoress of Romford.