Nancy Bird Walton, AO, OBE, DStJ, Dame of the Knights of Malta, was a legendary pilot and about as hoydenish as it gets. At age 19, she became the first Australian female pilot to receive her commercial license. She went on to be instrumental in running early outback air ambulance services in New
South Wales and commandant of the Women’s Air Training Corps during WWII as well as founder and long-time president of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association. I’m tearing up as I tell you that she died on Tuesday afternoon in her home in Mosman, northern Sydney.