Jennifer Murray (née Mather; born June 1940 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

) is a pilot. In 2000 she circumnavigated the globe in a

Robinson R44 The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and ...

helicopter, travelling in 97 days, earning her the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the first helicopter circumnavigation by a woman.

Early life and education

Jennifer Mather was born in

, in June 1940. She was educated at

Downe House School Downe House School is a selective independent girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11–18. The ''Good Schools Guide'' described Downe House as an "Archetypal traditional girls' full bo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, UK. Her paternal grandfather was

Sir William Mather Sir William Mather (15 July 1838 – 18 September 1920) was a British industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1904. Life Mather was born in Manchester, the son of William Mather and his wife, Am ...

, the British industrialist who was chairman of

Mather & Platt Mather & Platt is the name of several large engineering firms in Europe, South Africa and Asia that are subsidiaries of Wilo SE, Germany or were founded by former employees. The original company was founded in the Newton Heath area of Manchester, ...

Career

Fastest circumnavigation

In August 1997, Murray became the first woman to fly a helicopter around the world when she co-piloted her

with

Quentin Smith Quentin Persifor Smith (August 27, 1952, Rhinebeck, New York – November 12, 2020, Kalamazoo, Michigan) was an American philosopher. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He worked ...

on the eastward circumnavigation. The 97-day flight was also an eastbound speed record for a piston-powered helicopter. The flight departed from

Denham, Buckinghamshire Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, approximately from central London, northwest of Uxbridge and just north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. The name is derived from the Old English fo ...

, UK on 10 May 1997, and her stopover at

Oakland Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

in California on 20 July is commemorated at the

Oakland Aviation Museum Oakland Aviation Museum, formerly called Western Aerospace Museum, was founded in 1981 as a non-profit organization operating an aviation museum located at North Field of Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California. It has over 30 vint ...

. On 6 September 2000, Murray became the first woman to make a solo flight around the world in a helicopter and the first person to do so without

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

Pole to pole

In 2007, Murray and co-pilot

Colin Bodill Colin Bodill (born 1952) is an adventurer and pilot from Nottingham, England. Colin has won the UK microlight championships several times and became the World Champion in 1995. In 1998 he set a new World Speed Record for flying an open-cockpi ...

became the first to land a helicopter on both North and South Poles, their second attempt. Their first, in 2003, ended in a near-fatal crash in Antarctica, after Murray had just become the first woman to fly a helicopter to the South Pole.

RacingThePlanet Nepal

At 71, Jennifer was an entrant for RacingThePlanet Nepal, a

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

starting on 20 November 2011. She withdrew after stage two.

Personal life

Mather married Hong Kong businessman Simon Murray in 1966.

Awards and honours

* Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee 2005 *

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

issued a postage stamp in her honour in 2004 * Royal Aero Club - 1997 Silver Medal, 2000

Britannia Trophy The Britannia Trophy is a British award presented by the Royal Aero Club for aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviation during the previous year. In 1911 Horatio Barber, who was a founder member of the Royal Aero Club, wa ...

* Brabazon Cup *

Harmon Trophy The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy," was awarded from 1926 through 1938 to t ...

* Inducted in Forest of Friendship

References

External links

Interview and biography on Polar First site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Jennifer English aviators Harmon Trophy winners 1940 births Living people Britannia Trophy winners Helicopter pilots British women aviators Rotorcraft flight record holders British aviation record holders British women aviation record holders