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visual arts pilot, and flight-test examiner who started flying at age 15 and had 6.000 hours to her credit, sued A i r Canada after two of her students were hired and she was denied an interview, on Gertrude de la Vergne, the third woman in Canada, and the first in Alberta, to receive her pilot's license in 1928. Courtesy of the National Aviation Museum, Ottawa. trained male teachers. Five Canadian women headed to Britain and joined the A i r Transport Auxiliary, a civilian organization that ferried aircraft to squadrons, factories, and storage units around Britain. Women were involved on aircraft assembly lines, and a woman named M a c G i l l was the aeronautical engineer who supervised the Canadian production o f 2,000 Hawker Hurricanes. Finally, in 1941, the R C A F began to admit women, mainly as aerial photographers. A n d the C W A F , the R C A F ' s women's division, carried the motto, "They serve that men may fly." Postwar, things didn't gel any better. Marion Orr. who was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1981. had to go all the way to the prime minister's office for approval to open her own school and airfield. Stewardesses (as they were then called) were in demand, but interviews involved leg and teeth inspection, and marriage meant instant dismissal. Trans-Canada Airlines, Pacific Western Airlines, and Canadian Pacific Airlines told Helen Harrison that she was too weak to handle the controls. Dawn Dawson made it as far as the interview-- because the receptionist has spelled her name " D o n . " But. gradually, things improved-- after a lawsuit or two. Lorna DeBlicquy, a flying instructor, bush Lakewopd the basis that she was too short and would require a specially designed uniform. In 1977, D e B l i c q u y became Canada's first c i v i l aviation inspector and, in 1995, was awarded the Order of Canada. Finally, in 1973, Transair hired Rosella Bjornson as the first and only female in a field of 2,800 pilots. Then other commercial airlines began hiring women. Today, although some still face prejudice and even hostility, increasing numbers of female pilots are working in military and c i v i l aviation, and still more are air traffic controllers and engineers. So it's been a bumpy ride. But, as y o u ' l l read in the quotes in the High Flyers exhibit, every female aviator believed that the struggle was worthwhile. A s A m e l i a Earhart said, "If enough of us keep trying, w e ' l l get some place." e©High Flyers is at the North Vancouver Museum and located at Presentation Archives, House in North Vancouver, March 4 through May 31. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday. 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free. Call 987-5618 for more details. Louise Aird is a freelance lives in West Vancouver. writer and the editor of Blitz Magazine. She VANCOUVER CB BACH EASTER ORATORIO VANCOUVER CR CBC VANC0UV : SOLO KAREN BROOKENS CHRISTOPHER COCK R JON WASHBURNB ORPHEUM THEATREl TICKETS! Jim Roger, jjjj