Gladys Sandford (née Coates, 4 March 1891 – 24 October 1971) was an Australian-New Zealand pioneering driver and aviator. She was the first woman in New Zealand to earn a pilot's licence.

Early life

Sandford was born at

Summer Hill, Sydney Summer Hill is a suburb of Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and ...

, to Oswald Coates and Valerie Albine, née Lassau. Sandford's father had immigrated from England, and her mother was from South Australia. By 1896 the family had moved to

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Adult life

Sandford became a school teacher and taught at

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, in New Zealand's North Island. She married William Henning, a motor salesman, in 1912, and worked with him in their car sales business, learning about cars and engines as she worked. In 1914, World War I broke out, and Henning, and two of Sandford's brothers, enlisted in the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

. Sandford tried to enlist as a driver, but was turned down. Instead, she joined the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood and travelled to Egypt at her own cost in 1916. She worked as an ambulance driver for a hospital in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

. She later travelled on to England, where she was taken on as an ambulance driver by the N.Z.E.F. in May 1917, and drove for the New Zealand Ambulance Corps in Egypt and France. She was promoted to head lady driver, and after the war finished she stayed on in England to lead the motor transport division at the New Zealand military hospital outside London. She developed influenza, however, and was discharged in January 1919. In 1920 she was appointed

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for her war services as a driver. Sandford's husband had died in 1918, and her two brothers had also died, so she returned to Australia alone. In 1920 she married Frederick Esk Sandford, a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force. As he was posted overseas, the couple lived in England, India and Egypt, however in 1924 Sandford moved back to Auckland without him. Sandford went back to her former role in car sales and also taught her customers to drive. She decided to learn to fly, and took lessons with the

New Zealand Permanent Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

, as the Royal New Zealand Air Force was then called, in Christchurch. In December 1925 she became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a pilot's licence. From March to July 1927 she and a (non-driving) companion, Stella Christie, completed a 10,000 mile (16,093 km) car journey from Sydney to Perth, Darwin, Adelaide and back to Sydney, in a 1926 Essex 6 coach. The route had been planned to copy

Francis Birtles Francis Edwin Birtles (7 November 1881 in Fitzroy, Victoria – 1 July 1941 in Croydon, New South Wales) was an Australian adventurer, photographer, cyclist, and filmmaker, who set many long-distance cycling and driving records, including beco ...

' trip from Adelaide to Darwin, however floods and road conditions meant the itinerary had to be adapted as they travelled. In December 1928, in Sydney, she divorced, Frederick Esk Sandford, only days before he died after a car accident near Glenrowan, Victoria. In 1929 Sandford settled in Sydney. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she worked as a censor for the Army; she also founded the Women's Transport Corps, a group of almost 400 members who underwent training in driving and car maintenance. After the war finished, Sandford ran a poultry farm before taking a job with the Department of Repatriation. In 1956 she retired and moved into the War Veterans' Home in Narrabeen. She became a vice-president of the Sydney branch of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, and visited sick and distressed soldiers and their families. She died on 24 October 1971 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord. In 2016, war historian Glyn Harper and illustrator Jenny Cooper published a children's book about Sandford's life, entitled ''Gladys Goes to War''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandford, Gladys 1891 births 1971 deaths People from Sydney 20th-century New Zealand people Aviation pioneers New Zealand aviators Australian aviators Australian women in World War II Australian women of World War I Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Australian women aviators 19th-century Australian women