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Walton, Nancy Bird (1915 - )

AO, OBE, OSJ
Archival/Heritage ResourcesPublished ResourcesGallery
Pilot
Born: 16 October 1915  Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Nancy Bird Walton was Australia's youngest female pilot.She was awarded imperial honours for her work with the Far West Children's Health Scheme.


Career Highlights
Nancy Bird Walton was born in Sydney in 1915. In 1933, at the age of 17, she became the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot's licence. One year later she obtained her commercial licence.

In 1937-1938 Walton operated a charter service in Queensland followed by a two year world tour studying civil aviation. In 1950 she founded the Australian Women's Pilots' Association. She won the Ladies Trophy in the South Australian Centenary Air Race from Brisbane to Adelaide in 1936 and came fifth in the All Women's Transcontinental Air Race, America, in 1958.

Walton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) in 11 June 1966 for her work as pilot to the Far West Children's Health Scheme. She was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia on 26 January 1990 for 'service to aviation, particularly the participation of women in aviation'.

 
Published Resources

Books

  • Flynn, Randal, Nancy Bird, born to fly, Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1991, 32 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Hughes, Robin and Heimans, Frank, Nancy Bird [videorecording] : born 1915 : aviatrix, Film Australia, Lindfield, NSW, 1992. [ Details... ]
  • Walton, Nancy Bird, My God! its a woman : the autobiography of Nancy Bird, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, N.S.W., 1990, 216 pp. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

See also

  • De Vries, Susanna, Great Australian Women Volume II: from pioneering days to the present, HarperCollinsPublishers, Pymble, NSW, 2002, 320 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp. [ Details... ]

Google
Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Clare Land
Created: 24 September 2002
Modified: 14 September 2005

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 7 August 2008
http://womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0124b.htm

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