ON THIS DAY

February 13, 1981 — Captains Leah Mosher, Nora Bottomley, and Deanna (Dee) Brasseur became the first Canadian female military pilots to receive their wings. While women had served as pilots during the Second World War, they were classified as commercial (that is, non-combat) pilots. Most, like Ontario’s Marion Orr, flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary, shuttling aircraft from factories to bases. In 1988, the Royal Canadian Air Force began licensing women as fighter pilots.