Madeleine C O’Rourke
Irish aviator and organiser of aviation events
Irish aviator and organiser of aviation events
Transgender former Labour Party Parliamentary candidate, RAF veteran, Premier League Football photographer, self harm and suicide survivor
One of the first women of African descent to join the British armed forces.
In 1951 she was appointed an OBE for services to women’s organisations. She continued to serve them faithfully for another 20 years and in 1963 was the first New Zealand woman to complete 100,000 flying miles.
Irish aviator, gardener, philatelist and sportswoman
Pioneering Irish aviator
Kitty Kain was appointed superintendent of New Zealand’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1941.
Best known as the wife of astronaut Gordon Cooper, she was also a licensed pilot herself.
A talented pilot and a courageous woman, Jane Winstone was one of 16 women from the ATA killed during the war.
Hilda Hewlett was a pioneer motoring enthusiast, and, in 1909, when she attended the first English flying meeting at Blackpool, she yearned to fly. She adopted the pseudonym Grace Bird and with a Frenchman, Gustave Blondeau, went to the Mourmelon-le-Grand aerodrome in France to study aeronautics.