Vera Elise Strodl Dowling

Vera Elise Strodl (Dowling) is one of the most well known Danish women in service during the Second World War.
- Later a very famous Aerobatics Instructor here in Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_Aviation_Hall_of_Fame

She was the guest of honor in 1994 at the Aero Club of Canada Plenary in Winnipeg Manitoba and gave a presentation on her life in aviation.

She trained as a pilot in the Sussex Aero Club in the following years, and qualified as a pilot in 1937.
In 1939, she joined the Auster Aircraft Co. as test pilot, but volunteers for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in 1941 and was in service as ferry pilot until the end of the war.
During these years, she ferried many different aircraft types accumulating approximately 30.000 flying hours during her lifetime.

Her talk began with her first flight. Memorable and then some!
She turned up at the Sussex Aero Club for her first day of flight instruction.
The though of a woman being a pilot went against the grain with the club members, so she was slotted late in the day when air conditions calmed down.

Pilot training began on a homemade glider which had a wooden plank that you sat on. You pressed your foot on pedals to move the plank backwards and forwards to adjust your Center of Gravity (CG) which pitches the glider downwards as you move forward, up as you move back.

Any Soaring Pilot will tell you that in the early evening as the sun goes down, "Glass Off" conditions often occur after hot summer days.
A "Glass Off" is when the hot ground cools off and releases all its pent off heat into a mass of air that rises, just above the sink rate of the aircraft.

This is what happened, although the club members there appear to have not known about it.
They were very impressed with her soaring skills - noting it was her first flight, while at the same time getting quite worried about her.
In fact, she was pulling every trick in the book trying to get down, to no avail...

The other story she told that was equally memorable was an Air Transport Auxiliary delivery of an aircraft to an RAF Squadron base.
She took off on a bright summer day, but came into land well after dark at an airfield that was blanketed by thick fog.
The airfield had a high row of trees quite close at hand on either side of the landing strip and even from tree top level could not see the runway from the air due to fog and darkness.
So she patiently waited until a row of fire pots were lit along the runway and landed safely.

She passed away January 14th 2015, sad to say.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=173833420

 

Thanks Otto!

This Flyer was no shrinking Violet either!

I posted it in Elinor's thread (linked here) because she became a Canadian after the War.
She was an Aerobatics Instructor here in Canada.

Does anyone have her Service History, Rank and Service Number?

Edit:
From: http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/women-pioneers/ata-women

W.60
2 Dec-41 to Nov-45
First Officer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RAeC 1937

 

I just ran across a phenomenal number of good quotations and stories in this interview with her:

See: http://mswm.org/miracle_healing_testimony_vera_dowling.htm

"Vera Dowling was the one and only female test pilot in World War II and the first woman to fly for a commercial airline in Scandinavia.
She was the first woman in the Royal Air Force to lead a military flight formation (over Bristol in England.)
She was among the first 14 woman pilots selected to enter the Royal Air Force and was the first woman flying instructor in Alberta." Continued...

From: http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/women-pioneers/ata-women

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ATA

 

Of course. When I google for her maiden name (Vera Strodl) all sorts of information starts to come up.

Five Star Rating for this recent book:

Pursuit of a Dream: The Story of Pilot Vera (Strodl) Dowling
By: Warren Hathaway
http://www.amazon.ca/Pursuit-Dream-Story-Strodl-Dowling/dp/1897544871

“No Place for a Lady - The story of Canadian Women Pilots”
By: Shirley Render (1992)
http://www.amazon.ca/No-Place-Lady-Canadian-Pilots/dp/0969426429

Vera Dowling The Amazing Vera Dowling Story
By: Max S0lbrekken World Mission - apparently at Amazon, but I can't find it at the moment.
http://www.maxsolbrekken.com/2012/07/vera-dowling-is-truly-canadian-hero-who.html



From: http://www.nordfynsmuseum.dk/vera_dowling.htm


______________________

Re the above Test. That appeared to be the trick. Thanks Otto!
(When I went to edit the thread, all the text had become one long link starting from the wiki.)

 

From: http://www.cahf.ca/CUSTOMPAGES/907/MemberList.cfm?firstLetter=D#63
- an excellent, long article about her at the:



Vera Elsie Strodl Dowling


Birthdate: July 16, 1918
Birth Place: Braughing, Hertfordshire, England
Death Date: January 11, 2015
Year Inducted: 2000
Awards: Freedom Fighters Medal (Denmark), Award of Merit (England), Pioneer in Aviation Award, The Molly Reilly Memorial Trophy

In January of 1937, StrodI Dowling qualified for Pilot's 'A' Licence #11442