Limerick woman Lady Mary Heath, born Sophie Peirce-Evans in 1896, was a formidable aviator. She was the first passenger of the London Aeroplane Club (1925) and first woman to parachute from an aeroplane in public (1926). Breaking international barriers in place at the time, in 1926 she became the first woman to hold a commercial flying licence in Britain.
Her most famous feat was that she flew solo, in an open-cockpit Avro Avian Mk III, from Cape Town, South Africa, to London, England in 1928. The trip took 3 months, and her cargo manifest included ballgowns, tennis whites and Strychnine! Upon landing, she made a point of exiting the aircraft wearing a fur coat and high heel shoes – showing the world that flying could indeed be considered “ladylike”.
Her other accolades were that she was the first woman to qualify as an aeroplane mechanic in the USA (1928), founded the National Junior Aviation Club, and was president of the newly formed Irish Gliding Club.
An aircraft accident in America resulted in her being hospitalised for 6 weeks with extensive injuries to her skull. However, she eventually got her pilot licence back and returned to Ireland to fly and instruct for Iona National Airways. Later, she and her husband ran air taxi service, Dublin Air Ferries, at Kildonan airfield mostly operating DeHavilland DH60 Moths. She died in London in 1939.
Limerick City and County Council Arts Office made an award available in 2024, to support a celebration of the work and achievements of Sophie Mary Peirce-Evans (Lady Heath), Irish Aviator and sportswoman, born in Knockaderry near Newcastle west. Artist Ella Daly and Aviator Ruth Bagnell won the award and the project Lady Mary Heath; Her Sky, Our Voices, was born.
Additional sponsorship was provided by Aero Inspection International and Atlantic Flight Training Academy. The project involved 4 girls from Newcastle West creatively writing stories about Lady Mary, which are available on the website. The girls had the opportunity to visit Weston Airport and to sit in a Boeing Stearman in Lyons’ Estate. The result of this project is a website dedicated to the archives on Lady Mary Heath. A recent event saw the official launch of this wonderful website and a live reading of one of the stories.
