Avatrix sisters Sheila and Mabel Glass, born in Whitehead, County Antrim were renowned endurance, racing and aerobatic pilots in the 1930s.
The sisters were given full support at home to take up flying by their mother who was a friend of world-famous aviation pioneer Amy Johnson who in 1930 flew solo for 23 days over 11,000 miles (18,000 km) from London to Australia.
Motivated by Amy Johnson’s accomplishments in aviation, Mabel and her sister Sheila took flying lessons at Heston Airport in Middlesex, England in the 1930s, mastering the art of flying in an Avro Cub Cadet aircraft and both obtaining their flying licences in May 1934.
When their mother was interviewed by the Sheffield Independent in 1967 newspaper and was asked why she had encouraged her daughters to fly, she responded: “I’m a fatalist. In the air, they face no greater danger than they face in London traffic. I put them in for flying because I believe it teaches courage resourcefulness and initiative. I’m proud that my girls have ambition and their determination to realise it.”
In 1936, flying their mother’s de Havilland Dh 60 Cirrus Moth and departing from Henworth Aerodrome, the sisters entered their first air race from London to the Isle of Man, competing against seasoned RAF and civilian pilots.
The next year, departing on 5th February from Heston Aerodrome they embarked on another joint airborne journey to enter the Oases Rally held at Cairo. With Sheila navigating and Mabel piloting they covered over 3,500 miles in two weeks of flying from London to Cairo through France, Italy, and Libya.
When the Second World War broke out, Mabel Glass enlisted in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), becoming one of the first women to pilot Royal Air Force planes.
Mabel completed her pilot’s conversion course in a Miles Master trainer and then later in the challenging Airspeed Oxford before ferrying her first aircraft, a Hawker Typhoon on December 7th 1942. She went on to ferry over nine hundred Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, and other aircraft during the war. She flew alongside Lois Butler wife of the chairman of de Havilland and the world-famous Amy Johnson, who would later crash in mysterious circumstances while transporting an ATA aircraft.
In 1947 after the war ended, Sheila and Mabel along with their mother emigrated to Kwazulu, Natal, South Africa. While in South Africa, both sisters continued to fly and Mabel competed in and won several air races.
According to Michael Traynor, author of Petticoat Pilots: Biographies and Achievements of Irish Female Aviators 1909-1939 Volume Two and writing on the “Facts About Durban” webpage, the Glass sisters played a key role in the formation of the Women’s Aviation Association of South Africa 1948.
They lived out their lives in South Africa and are both buried there, Mabel Glass (1913 – 1967) and Sheila Glass (1914 – 1989) – Antrim’s Avatrix Sisters.
Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
Air Transport Auxiliary
Airliners website
Ancestory.com
Archives Wartime NI
Facts About Durban
Getty Images – George Rinhart/ Corbis & J. A. Hampton/ Topical Press Agency
Hulton Archive – J.A. Hampton
Irish Historic Flight
Mauritius Images
National Library of Australia
Petticoat Pilots: Biographies and Achievements of Irish Female Aviators 1909-1939 Volume Two – Michael Traynor
The British Newspaper Archive
