Today, Google Doodle pays tribute to a woman trailblazer of aviation, Maude Rose ‘Lores’ Bonney.
Bonney’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary – she is the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England, travelling through heavy storms and surviving two crashes in her 1933 voyage.
Travelling solo today may sound simple, but such voyage happened during the infancy stage of aviation where she has to do all of her own plane maintenance and navigate her way across the world without a radio.
Bonney had her first record-breaking adventure in 1931 where she had a 1,600km, 15-hour travel from Brisbane to Wangaratta.
It was considered the longest one-day flight by a woman at that time.
She was born on the 20th of November 1897 at Pretoria, South Africa and later on moved with her family to England and then to Melbourne, Australia.
It was the cousin of her husband – Bert Hinkler known as the “Australian Lone Eagle” that has sparked Bonney’s interest in flying.
Bonney is supposed to celebrate her 122nd birthday today.
