WOMAN AIR PILOT.

Waipawa Mail, Volume L, Issue 130, 8 July 1929, Page 2

WOMAN AIR PILOT.

FIRST IN VICTORIA. SYDNEY, May 23. That more women do not take up flying surprises Miss K. Bloomfield, of St. Kilda, the first woman in Victoria to gain her pilot’s lieense. She has just passed the final test and a pretty severe one at that. At any rate, the test was just as severe as that set for a man, and this young woman came through with flying colors. If women only knew how thrilling flying'was, said Miss Bloomfield, she was certain that the number of women flyers would soon increase. At present there were five flying women members of the Victorian section of the Australian Aero Club. Miss Bloomfield was not content with merely flying. She wanted to have her hands on the controls —and, like most women, she is having her own way now. “I first caught the flying craze,” she said, “when I was in Great Britain last year and flew as a passenger from London to Brussels. Soon after 1 got hack to Melbourne I became frightfully keen on learning, and I began to take lessons. Every day for the past two months —except when the weather made flying out of the question—l have been up in the air for about half-an-hour. I need not say that I have not attempted to do any aerobatic feats yet. What 1 may do later, of course, remains to he seen. Flying is very difficult. You must keep your mind on what you are doing. And if you don’t—well. ’ ’ Bom in Melbourne 24 years ago Miss Bloomfield has been keen to secure the host education possible, and she boasts B.A. after her name. When she took her degree at the Melbourne University she went to the United States, where she did a year's post-graduate work at the Harvard University. Then came a tour of Great Britain and the Continent. She is a splendid type of outdoor, athletic girl. She is keen on motoring. In between her studies of economics she likes a game of chess best of all.

Like most other people who have tho experience she considers that Australia is the ideal country for aviation. She is considering entering the commercial side of the business later on, when she has had greater experience. The future of flying in Australia, she says, has enormous possibilities.