Lilian Bland

In 1910 the Irish Lilian Bland was the first woman to design, build and fly her own plane. She was good at pretty much anything she set her mind to and packed so much into her life that it reads like fiction.

As a young woman she lived with her widowed father and aunt, enjoying a life of smoking, wearing trousers, fishing, and hunting. She was an excellent shot and apparently so good on a horse that she was the first woman in Ireland to apply for a jockey license (but wasn’t allowed to race due to being a woman). She started her career as a newspaper photographer, covering the sports section. Her photographs of birds off Scotland’s west coast, her first venture into nature photography, was picked up and exhibited by London’s Photographic Society. They are thought to be the first plates of live birds.

The plane is called ‘Mayfly’: it may fly, it may not
Lilian Bland about the name for her plane

Photography could have been her calling, but Lilian decided to set her sights on aviation instead. Through continuous study, trial and undoubtedly plenty of error, she built her very own plane called the ‘Mayfly’. She started the project by constructing it as a glider and later upgraded it with a motor. When the motor first arrived it came without its fuel tank, so she inventively fashioned one from an empty whisky bottle and her aunt’s ear trumpet. Once the fuel tank finally arrived she managed to fly further, for 30 yards. She was just short of the Wright brothers, which was quite impressive for that time.

Once Lilian knew she’d accomplished what she could as a private aviator, she traded flight for motor cars. The machinery of cars was more advanced than planes then. She even briefly worked as a successful car salesman, before it was deemed too unladylike by her family. She was eventually convinced to marry a cousin, who lived on Vancouver Island, Canada. They had a child, which they sadly lost, and she ultimately returned to the UK alone. She spent her retirement in Cornwall, continuing to do what she pleased: gambling, drinking and painting.

She inspired me with her unconventional life.

Also look up:

There’s Amelia Earhart of course, the poster girl for early flight. Besse Coleman was so determined to fly, she learned French in order to follow flying lessons. As a black woman, she could not get lessons at home, so she had to go to France to become the first American woman with a licence. Marie Marvingt flew during the Second World War and set up what would become an air ambulance. Sophie Blanchard is worth noting: she was a daring balloonist in the 18th century.