Violet Milstead
Violet Milstead Warren bush pilot , flight instructor | |
---|---|
Spouse |
Arnold Warren
(m. 1947; died 2000) |
Honours | Member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame , Bush Pilots Hall of Fame |
Violet Milstead Warren
Early life
Milstead was born October 17, 1919, in Toronto, Ontario.[1][2][3] Her parents were Edith and Harold Milstead, and she had one brother named Fred.[1]
Milstead was taken out of school at the age of 15 in order to help at her mother's wool shop.[3] Although she first aspired to become a surgeon, by the time she was 16 she was determined to become a pilot instead. Milstead saved up money for flying lessons from working at her mother's shop.[2] She took her first flying lesson on September 4, 1939.[3] Only six months after her first flying lesson, she had earned both her private and commercial aviation licenses.[2]
Career
WWII
After completing her instructor's certification in July 1941, Milstead gave flight lessons to both military personnel and private citizens at Barker Field in Toronto. Soon, however, wartime rationing effectively ended her instructing job.[2]
In 1943,[3] learning that the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) needed experienced pilots, Milstead travelled to England with fellow aviator Marion Orr.[2][3] She was one of only four Canadian women who worked at the ATA,[4][2] and she earned the rank of first officer, ferrying various twin-engine aircraft between factories and military sites.[2]
Milstead flew at least 47 types of aircraft during her wartime ferrying work, including
Milstead logged over 600 hours of flight time, and was the longest serving female Canadian pilot with the ATA.[3]
Post-war years
After being discharged from the ATA in 1945, Milstead returned to Canada and worked as a flight instructor at Leavens Brothers Air Services at Barker Field. Here, she met her future husband, pilot Arnold Warren.
She sometimes encountered difficulties with men. In one incident, before their aircraft took off, a male co-pilot attempted to kiss her, and she "spun him around and kicked him out the door".[5] Things improved with time, however. "When the boys got over fainting spells from seeing a girl climb out of the airplane, they became very helpful," Milstead later recalled.[2]
Following a two-year stint in Indonesia – where Milstead's husband taught aviation but where she herself was forbidden from teaching – the couple returned to Canada, where Milstead eventually found work as a librarian at Orlenda and the Ontario Water Commission.
Milstead taught several notable Canadians how to fly during her time as an instructor, including author June Callwood[8] and commercial pilot Molly Reilly.[9] Impressed by Milstead's skills, Callwood described her as a "Bush Angel", later writing an article about Milstead for a women's magazine.[5]
Honours
In 1995, Milstead was chosen to enter the Bush Pilots Hall of Fame.[7] A year later, a documentary called A Time For Courage was produced about Milstead's ATA work by Cooper Rock Pictures.[3]
In 2004, Milstead was awarded the Order of Canada, and in 2009, a special Canada Post stamp was issued with her image on it. In 2012 she received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. Her other awards include the Amelia Earhart Medal, the Paul Harris Medal, and the Rusty Blakey Memorial Award.[5][3]
In 2010, she was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.[3]
Personal life and death
Milstead married pilot Arnold Warren in 1947, and they stayed together until Warren's death in 2000.[2]
She died on June 27, 2014.[2][10]
References
- ^ a b c "MILSTEAD WARREN C.M., Violet "Vi" of Colborne, Ontario @ MacCoubrey Funeral Home - CanadaObits.ca". canadaobits.ca. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m McLeod, Susanna. "Even girls can learn to fly". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Vi Milstead Warren". www.cahf.ca. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
- ^ ISBN 9781770490086.
- ^ ISBN 9781459731882.
- ^ a b Archived 2023-03-09 at the Wayback Machine[dead link]
- ^ ISBN 9781550502046.
- ^ Pedersen, Anne-Marie. "June Callwood". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- OCLC 39209984.
- ^ "Aviator blazed a trail for other women". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 27, 2017.