Heritage Minute lauds female engineer
Pioneering female aeronautical engineer Elsie MacGill is the focus of a new Heritage Minute. Historica Canada released a tribute to MacGill’s influential role in the Second World War on Thursday to mark the first day of Women’s History Month. MacGill was one of the first women admitted to the engineering program at the University of Toronto in 1923, and would earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan six years later. The Heritage Minute focuses on her role at the Canadian Car & Foundry in what is now Thunder Bay, where she oversaw the production of more than 1,400 Hawker Hurricane aircraft, some which were flown by Canadian airmen in the Battle of Britain. It earned her the nickname “Queen of the Hurricanes.”