REPORT CARRIED IN A LOCAL NEWCASTLE NEWSPAPER ON NOVEMBER 18, 1938
Two women members of Newcastle Corps of the Civil Air Guard have flown a plane solo this week.
Newcastle section began training immediately the scheme was launched, and it is certain that they are among the first women in the country to make their solo flights as Civil Air Guards.
Mrs. Beatrix Lister, wife of a Gosforth business man, was the first to fly alone - after just under nine hours dual instruction.
She beat by a day Miss Rhoda Heppell, 18 year old daughter of MR. P. Forsyth Heppell, of Gosforth. She is Newcastle's youngest C.A.G. She had had nearly 10 hours dual flying.
Mrs. Lister will broadcast in Stagshaw Searchlight at 6.30 p.m. tomorrow. She will probably describe her experiences in learning to fly.
SEXES EQUAL
Mrs. Lister, who lives in Woolsington, stresses the advantages a prospective pilot can gain through watching aircraft, and by taking passenger flights to get rid of the first feelings of "air nerves."
Everyone, she says, has a touch of "air nerves" when they first go up. Passenger flights before would stop this.
"I feel much safer in an aeroplane than in a car, and it is far more enjoyable," she said.
Miss Heppell, who is fair haired and full of enthusiasm, spends as much of her spare time as possible at the airport. She has spent hours gaining ground information on aircraft.
"There is no need for a girl to be afraid of flying, just because she is a girl," says Miss Heppell. "The 'weaker sex' business doesn't work in the air. There is no reason why a woman should be any less efficient in the air than a man."
Mrs. Lister and Miss Heppell both pay great tribute to the patience of their instructors, Messrs. D. Prentice, Porter, and K. Lingford.
