Freda Thompson (5 April 1909 – 11 December 1980) was a pioneer aviator, the first Australian woman to fly solo from the United Kingdom to Australia.

Early life

Born at

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populati ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria to parents Frederick and Martha Thompson. Thompson was educated at

Toorak College Toorak College is an independent, inter-denominational, boarding and day school for girls in grades 5–12 and for boys and girls from pre-school through grade four. The school is located on the Mornington Peninsula, above Port Phillip Bay in ...

in Melbourne leaving with Honours, Proficiency Certificates Pianoforte and Ice Skating.

Flying qualification and early career

On 28 May 1930 Thompson took her first flight as a pilot and later that year obtained her A Licence. In 1932 she became the fifth woman in Australia to gain a 'B' Commercial Pilot licence. She qualified as a flying instructor in 1933 and was reported as the first woman in the British Empire to receive an instructors licence. In April 1934 Thompson sailed for England to collect a new

De Havilland Moth The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time eve ...

Major, which she named ''Christopher Robin.'' It had been fitted with long range fuel tanks for the journey to Australia. Thompson had accumulated over 250 hours of flying experience by this time. On 28 September 1934 Thompson left

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

for Australia, flying solo. The trip took 39 days with the actual flying time being 19 days. Thompson damaged her aeroplane G-ACUC (VH-UUC) when she made a precautionary landing at

Megara, Greece Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

, and was delayed for 20 days waiting for a spare part for a damaged wing. Thompson arrived in Darwin on 6 November, and at Mascot, Sydney on 20 November 1934.

WWII

Thompson was commandant of the Woman's Air Training Corps in Victoria from 1940–1942. During the course of WWII she applied to join the

Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve, as well as by the Chief of the Air Staff, who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service ov ...

but did not receive a response and in 1942 she enlisted in the

Australian Women's Army Service The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was a non-medical women's service established in Australia during the Second World War. Raised on 13 August 1941 to "release men from certain military duties for employment in fighting units" the serv ...

Later career

Following WWII Thompson bought a de Havilland Hornet Moth, and named it ''Christopher Robin II''. She flew extensively within Australia, and in 1952 to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. She competed in air races and formation-flying events. She won forty-seven trophies. She was president in 1948 of the

Royal Victorian Aero Club The Royal Victorian Aero Club is an Australian aero club based at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne. History Founded by pioneer aviators in 1914 at Point Cook, the club is one of Australia's oldest flying training organisations. The Austral ...

. By 1980 she had logged 3330 flying hours.

Death

Thompson died at Malvern in 1980 and was cremated.

Awards & Legacy

In 1937 Thompson was awarded King George VI's coronation medal and in 1953 she was awarded Queen Elizabeth II's coronation medal. In 1937 Thompson was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE). Thompson's papers were donated to the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

in 1990, and the collection includes her 1930s air pilot's cap and googles. In 1994 she was honoured by the issue of a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

, one of a series depicting Australian aviators also including

Stanley Goble Air Vice Marshal Stanley James (Jimmy) Goble, CBE, DSO, DSC (21 August 1891 – 24 July 1948) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served three terms as Chief of the Air Staff, alternating with Wing Comm ...

and

Ivor McIntyre Ivor Ewing McIntyre, (6 October 1899 – 12 March 1928) was a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He gained national recognition in 1924 when he and Wing Commander Stanley Goble became the first men to circumnavigate Australia ...

Lawrence Hargrave Lawrence Hargrave, MRAeS, (29 January 18506 July 1915) was an Australian engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer. He was perhaps best known for inventing the box kite, which was quickly adopted by other aircraft desig ...

, Sir Keith and Sir

Ross Macpherson Smith Sir Ross Macpherson Smith, (4 December 1892 – 13 April 1922) was an Australian aviator. He and his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, were the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, in 1919. Early life Smith's father migrated ...

. Thompson was inducted onto the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...

in 2001.

Sources

* *Thompson's papers were donated to the

in 1990 her sister, Claire Embling *