Person    | Female  Born 17/2/1864  Died 21/9/1943

Hilda Hewlett

Categories: Aviation, Industry

Countries: New Zealand

Aviator and aircraft manufacturer. Born Hilda Beatrice Herbert in Vauxhall. The first British woman to earn a pilot's licence, in 1911. Together with her business partner, Gustav Blondeau, she founded the first flying school in the United Kingdom, and ran a successful aircraft manufacturing business which produced more than 800 aeroplanes and employed up to 700 people. After the factory closed down in 1926 she emigrated to New Zealand, where she died in Tauranga, North Island. All this information comes from the excellent sheelanagigcomedienne.

2017: Difficult to believe that the Wikipedia photo (captioned as her pilot's licence photo) depicts the same woman, or any woman from 1911, but if it does, the wig (or hat) deserves comment.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Hilda Hewlett

Commemorated ati

Hilda Hewlett

The plaque is located on the site of her first factory which was called the O...

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Other Subjects

WW2 aircraft crash

WW2 aircraft crash

The story of this crash is very well told at Their Last Night.   Here we give a brief summary. The plane was a a Mark 5 Halifax No DK 253 of 427 Squadron based at Leeming, Yorkshire.  It was one o...

Event, Aviation

1 memorial
Royal Air Force Gang Show Association

Royal Air Force Gang Show Association

The name of this organisation sometimes has "Shows" rather than "Show".

Group, Armed Forces, Aviation, Theatre

2 memorials
Shoreham Aircraft Museum

Shoreham Aircraft Museum

Founded by local enthusiasts, whose passion for the Battle of Britain period resulted in the establishment of a permanent display in 1988. It houses hundreds of relics excavated by the group from c...

Group, Aviation, Museums / Libraries

2 memorials
M. Auguste Eugine Gaudron

M. Auguste Eugine Gaudron

Hot air balloon manufacturer. Pilot of the first British public airmail flight in 1902. He once crossed the North Sea to Sweden in a balloon called “Mammoth” and he was the first balloonist to be i...

Person, Aviation, France, Russia, Sweden

1 memorial