Alberta Aviation Museum honours two female aviation pioneers

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, AlbertaAviationMuseum, Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador, WomenofAviation WorldwideWeek,  BlatchfordField

Hazel Fausak, of Evansburg, and Lois Argue, of Edmonton who became aviation pioneers during the Second World War were honoured at Alberta Aviation Museum on Saturday as part of a Women of Aviation Worldwide Week celebration, media reports said.

Fausak, who had been working as a radio operator for the Ferry Command in Gander, N.L. and died in January 2016 at the age of 93.

Her daughters, who were present for Saturday’s ceremony, said Fausak had been overseeing secret communications for military aircraft flying overseas to Europe.

She was the first woman to be hired to work at Edmonton’s Blatchford Field, where she served as a medical assistant.

“It was a very covert, kind of secretive place because they could never let any of the enemy know where any of the planes were, so it was all done in code--Because it was a secret operation, they were never recognized--“The idea that something would be written down, that people would remember not just her, but what happened… she’d be so proud of this,” Fausak's daughter Thompson said, msnNews reports said.

Lois Argue was at that time 96 years old and was part of the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division.

While celebrating their contributions during an event at the museum, it also brought awareness about aviation opportunities available to women.

Zena Conlin event co-ordinator said in a release that although things had changed for women in aviation, the numbers were still very small.

In Canada only six percent of women were private pilots and 16 percent were air traffic controllers, according to the release.

Colin said that more young women are needed as there are many rewarding careers which await them in aviation

Jean Lauzon, executive director of the Alberta Aviation Museum said that they wanted to see those numbers increase.

Lauzon added aviation opportunities were not just male-oriented and hoped that more women could get into these fields.

Capt. Liz Williams, who spoke at Saturday’s event, said she was inspired as a child to join the Royal Canadian Air Cadet and hoped she can do the same for the next generation of women.

“I still have little kids come up and if they’re brave enough to talk to me they’ll be like, ‘I didn’t know girls could be pilots.’ And that just kind of breaks my heart.

“There’s no job that you’re not allowed to try to do -- But if I’d never tried just because I was afraid to fail, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be doing something less awesome for my job,” said Willaims, msnNews reports said

Capt. Rosella Bjornson, Canada’s first female airline pilot, was also present for Saturday’s event, which included crafts, tours and display.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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Image of : Alberta Aviation Museum: Wikipedia

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