Qantas flight engine failure

Australian pioneering aviator

Nancy Bird Walton, AO, OBE (16 October 1915 – 13 January 2009) was a pioneering Australian aviator, known as "The Angel of the Outback",^[2] and the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots' Association.^[3]

In the 1930s, she became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19 to become the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's license.

Early life

Born in Kew, New South Wales, Australia on 16 October 1915 as Nancy Bird,^[1] she was educated at Brighton College, Manly.^[4] Bird 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