NANCY BIRD - WALTON
(1915 - )

Nancy Bird

Achievements

1930 Got flight license

1936 -   air race from Adelaide to Brisbane,  won the Ladies' Trophy.

 1950 -  founded the 'Australian Women's Pilots' Association

1966 -  earned  Order of the British Empire 

Helped to set up a flying medical service in outback New South Wales.

1997 - The National Trust of Australia declared her an Australian Living Treasure .

Turning point

 flowed at an air pageant in 13 YO

 Dutch airline company invited her to do some promotional work in Europe she accepted.

Nancy Bird is well-named.She is one of Australia's aviation pioneers, and the first female pilot in the Commonwealth to carry passengers.A love of life above the clouds, has taken Nancy around the world, fulfilling dreams that began in childhood.Born in Sydney in 1915, Nancy wanted to fly almost as soon as she could walk."I had this reputation of climbing fences and trees and calling myself an eppy plane. You know, jumping off fences and waving my arms."Nancy left school early to work in her father's general store in the country."With my hard-won savings I bought myself a leather coat, helmet and goggles, because I was going to learn to fly."Nancy was thirteen years old when she flew for the first time while at an air pageant.She paid the pilot a bit extra to do some aerobatics!"My sister said I came down a little green - but on the other hand it became the ruling passion of my life."Five years later that passion drove Nancy to take flying lessons, and not with any old instructor.Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, the first man to fly across the mid-Pacific, had just opened a pilots' school near Sydney, and Nancy was among his first pupils.She was so tiny she needed cushions to reach the controls!Most women learnt to fly for fun.But Nancy planned to fly for a living."When I got my license, I had to think about doing something with it."Having a commercial license meant Nancy could carry passengers, but she needed wings!Family members came to the rescue, and bought Nancy her first plane, a Gipsy Moth.Nancy and a friend soon took off on a barnstorming tour, dropping in on country fairs and giving joy rides.It was the first time some people had seen a plane, let alone a female pilot!"They didn't intend to go up. That was my job, or Peggy's job, to persuade them to go up."While touring, Nancy met Reverend Stanley Drummond.He wanted her to help set up a flying medical service in outback New South Wales.Nancy bought a better-equipped plane, and began covering territory not yet reached by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.It was rewarding but lonely work."One of the things that came into one's mind was the fear of being lost and never being found. You would have perished before being found in the summertime in that country.""Commercial aviation was still in its infancy when 31 aircraftcompeted in the 1936 air race. "(from newsreel)In 1936, Nancy entered an air race from Adelaide to Brisbane, and won the Ladies' Trophy."It was a wonderful opportunity for me to come from that back country and meet other flying people. You see, I was isolated out there. Nobody even spoke the same language."After working in the outback for more than four years, Nancy knew she needed a break from flying.When a Dutch airline company invited her to do some promotional work in Europe, she accepted.World War Two broke out soon after Nancy's return to Australia.She began training women in skills needed to back-up the men flying in the Australian Airforce.In 1950, she founded the 'Australian Women's Pilots' Association'.Eight years later Nancy decided she wanted to fly again.Nancy was back in the pilot's seat after a twenty year absence.Her entry in a famous all-women race in America, called the Powder Puff Derby, made headlines.It was the first time a woman from overseas had competed.Throughout her life Nancy has supported charities, and people in need.This generous spirit earned her the Order of the British Empire in 1966.Although she's never crashed a plane Nancy admits flying, especially in those early days, was risky.Taking risks, says this adventurer, opens up opportunities."There's a wonderful quotation 'whatever you can do or dream, begin it'."

 Nancy-Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ (16 October 1915 – 13 January 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviator, and was the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

In the 1930s, defying the traditional role of females of her time, she became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19, and became the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence.

Biography[edit]

Born in Kew, New South Wales, Australia on 16 October 1915 as Nancy Bird,^[1] she wanted to fly almost as soon as she could walk. As a teenager during the Depression in Australia, Nancy Bird found herself in the same position as many other children of the time, leaving school at 13 to assist her family.^[1] In 1933, at the age of 18, her passion drove her to take flying lessons. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who was the first man to fly across the mid-Pacific, had just opened a pilots' school near Sydney, and she was among his first pupils. Most women learned to fly for recreation, but Nancy planned to fly for a living.

When she was awarded a commercial pilot's license at the age of 19, through a legacy of 200 pounds from a great aunt plus money loaned from her father (which she paid back), Nancy bought her first aircraft, a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. Soon after Nancy Bird and her friend Peggy McKillop took off on a barnstorming tour, dropping in on country fairs and giving joyrides to people who had never seen an aircraft before, let alone a female pilot. Whilst touring, Bird met Reverend Stanley Drummond. He wanted her to help set up a flying medical service in outback New South Wales. In 1935, she was hired to operate the service, named the Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme. Bird's own Gipsy Moth was used as an air ambulance. She bought a better-equipped aircraft, and began covering territory not yet reached by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She told others that it was rewarding but lonely work.

In 1936, Nancy Bird entered an air race from Adelaide to Brisbane, and won the Ladies' Trophy. In 1938 she decided to have a long break from flying. A Dutch airline company (KLM) invited her to do some promotional work in Europe, where she stayed for a couple of years. She returned to Australia soon after World War II broke out. She began training women in skills needed to back up the men flying in the Royal Australian Air Force. She was 24 when she married an Englishman, Charles Walton, and had two children. He preferred to call her "Nancy-Bird" rather than "Nancy", and she became generally known as "Nancy-Bird Walton". In 1950, she founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association (AWPA),^[1] where she remained president for five years. Nancy-Bird Walton became Patron of the AWPA in 1983 following the death of Lady Casey, the original Patron. In 1958, she decided to return to flying after a twenty-year absence.

Throughout her life Walton was notable for her support of charities and people in need. This generous spirit saw her invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1966. She was later appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was the starting block for generations of female pilots. She was never involved in an accident, despite the risks of early aviation.

The National Trust of Australia declared her an Australian Living Treasure in 1997.

The first Airbus A380 (VH-OQA) delivered to Australian airline Qantas was named in her honour.^[2] Her name on the A380 was originally written "Nancy Bird Walton",^[3] but Qantas respected her preference for the hyphenation that her late husband used ("Nancy-Bird"), and the hyphen was added before the aircraft's naming, shortly after she was aboard the ceremonial flight above Sydney.^[4] This aircraft was operating flight QF32 when it suffered a serious uncontained engine failure after takeoff from Singapore in 2010; rather ironically, Walton wrote the first officer's reference when he first joined Qantas as a pilot.^[5]

One of her last main interviews was for the feature-length documentary film Flying Sheilaswhich provided a unique insight into her life along with seven other Australian female pilots.

On 10 September 2008, shortly before her death, Walton conducted a 45-minute interview for the one-hour documentary .

On 13 January 2009, Nancy-Bird Walton died at the age of 93.