Our campaign to celebrate the Centennial of Women Pilots has reached the continent downunder. And guess what, the first woman pilot from Australia to join us is none over that Rosemary Arnold.

As so many of the women pilots that came before and the women pilots who have so far taken part of this celebration, Rosemary is a spirited young lady. A young mom with 4 children, she decided to learn to fly. She caught the flying bug and soon became the first woman to earn an helicopter pilot license in Australia and continued on to earn her commercial pilot license. Fighting prejudice, she started her own helicopter charter company to give herself a flying job. At 70 years old, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation and became a university lecturer.

As part of a project to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of AWPA, she researched women pilots' history in Australia. That project is now part of the exhibit in Australia's first women pilots museum. With additional research, she authored a 200-page book full of the stories of Australia's pioneer women pilots. Her new book titled "First Females Above Australia - Australia’s first 100 years of women pilot firsts" is in the process of being published. Well done, Rosemary! Let us know when the book becomes available for purchase.