Australian Women Pilots’ Association to honour founder Nancy-Bird Walton

Nancy-Bird about to touch down. (Paul Sadler/Airservices Australia) — Qantas Airbus A380, VH-OQA, Nancy-Bird Walton, about to touch down. (Paul Sadler/Airservices Australia)

The NSW branch of the Australian Women’s Pilots’ Association (AWPA) is celebrating the career of Nancy-Bird Walton on what would have been the pioneer aviatrix’ 100th birthday.

The dinner is being held at Dolton House in Sydney on Friday October 16, a hundred years to the day from Walton’s birth in 1915.

Walton, who was the youngest Australian women to gain a pilot’s licence, founded the Australian Women’s Pilot’s Association in 1950 and was the AWPA’s first president.

Her achievements were recognised with the naming of Qantas’s first Airbus A380, VH-OQA, in her honour. Walton, the first woman to gain a commercial pilot’s licence in Australia, was declared a national living treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1977.

Walton died on January 13 2009, aged 93.

Anyone wanting more information about the dinner can email the AWPA at: [email protected]

Comments (3)

adammudhen

October 15, 2015 at 3:15 pm

Surely Sydney’s new airport needs a name, I can’t think of someone more deserving. YNBW anyone?

Dane

October 15, 2015 at 7:53 pm

Nancy-Bird Walton International Airport has a better ring to it than Badgerys Creek. If Sydney airport is named after one of our aviation pioneers, surely another can’t hurt.