JEAN’S CAREER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 246, 17 October 1936, Page 9

JEAN’S CAREER

HER PROWESS IN THE AIR

POSSESSES GREAT COURAGE A HAPPY DISPOSITION With the amazing tenacity that has characterised her entire flying career. Miss Jean Batten, C.8.E., has added another record to the many laurels she has gained in aviation. In 1934 she made lhe women's solo record flight from England to Australia, and she immediately capped this feat by being the first woman to make the two-way solo flight between the two countries. Last November Miss Batten made a solo crossing of the South Atlantic and, last week she graced woman’s air prowess by landing at Darwin in five days 21 hours—2s hours less than the record time made last November by Mr H. F. BroadI bent. Miss Batten is a daughter of Mr and Mrs F. H. Batten, Auckland, and a niece of Mr E. R. L. Batten, of Stratford. By her latest feat she undoubtedly can bo classed as one of the most distinguished long-distance women pilots in the world, her record easily bearing comparison with that of Mrs J. A. Mollison and Mrs Amelia Earhart. Her life in aviation is a triumph for youthful courage. She was born at Rotorua and made her first flight with the late Air-Commo-dore Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross at Sydney. Later she went to England, where she learned to fly with the London Aero Club, and took an engineering course at the de Havilland Aircraft Company. She made three attempts to fly from England to Australia solo, on one occasion’ getting as far as India in good time, and succeeding the third time in 1934. Later she made lhe return flight from Australia to England, becoming lhe first woman to make the both-ways solo flights between England and Australia. South Atlantic Crossing Last year she made a solo crossing of the South Atlantic, and is no\i probably the most decorated woman in aviation. Her recent awards include the Britannia Trophy, for the most: meritorious performance in the air last, year, from the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain, the Legion of Honour, for distinguished services tc flying, from France, the Hermon Tn« ternational Aviatrix Trophy, for the woman pilot doing the most to advance aviation during the year, from the Ligue Internationale des Aviatrix of Paris, and a gold medal from the King of the Belgians, as well as awards from Spain. Morocco and Brazil. This month Miss Batten was awarded the Johnson Memorial silver plaque by the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators of the Fmpire in recognition of her Atlantic flight. “It. appeared to us who knew her at. Mangere aerodrome that when once Jean Batten wanted to do a thing she went at it heart and soul until she had fully realised her objective.” said a friend. “Her flight from England to Australia is one Instance of this trait.” To those at the Mangere aerodrome Miss Batten appealed as a very vivacious and ambitious girl. She was intensely alive and very quick, both mentally and physically, while all her other interests were swamped by her ambition to become an efficient aviatrix. Music Abandoned At the Ladies’ College, Remuera, at which school Miss Batten completed her education, an old school friend recalls her as possessing an exceedingly happy disposition. She was most popular among her schoolfellows and was their acknowledged leader. She was a brilliant scholar, having a mind which absorbed knowledge rapidly and easily, and she was intensely fond of music. An apt and intelligent pianoforte pupil, Miss Batten sacrificed a brilliant musical career for aviation. Miss Batten passed her final examination of the Royal Academy of Music before her first visit to England and it was her intention to return to New Zealand and take her diploma. While in England, however, the “flying fever” gripped her and her music was abandoned in its favour. When in May, 1934, Miss Batten left Lympne, on her third attempt, she met discouragement upon discouragement and her log book was stated at the time to be a monument ot courageous endeavour. But she reached Darwin in seven minutes under 15 days, reducing Mrs Amy Mollison's time by four and a-half days, and gaining the England-Aus-tralia record for a woman flier.