Mary Bailey

Who was Mary Bailey?

Dame Mary Bailey DBE, née Westenra, was a British aviator.

The daughter of Derrick Warner William Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore, of Rossmore Castle, County Monaghan and his wife, Mittie, Bailey was known as one of the finest aviatrices of her time, who "personally guided a plane from England to the nether tip of South Africa and back". In January 1930 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

She was awarded a pilot's licence in early 1927 and quickly started a sporting career. She became the first woman to fly across the Irish Sea. On 5 July 1927 she set a world's height record of 17,283 ft in a light aircraft category, flying DH.60 Cirrus II Moth.

Between 9 March and 30 March 1928, she made an 8,000 mile solo flight from Croydon to Cape Town, flying de Havilland Cirrus Moth with an extra fuel tank, then she made 18,000 mile journey back between September 1928 and 16 January 1929. It was the longest solo flight and longest flight accomplished by a woman that far.

In 1927 and 1928 she twice won the Harmon Trophy as the world's outstanding aviatrix.