Canadian Aviatrix #61 – Margaret Littlewood (1916-2012)

Margaret Frances Littlewood was born on 28 March 1916 in York, Ontario, to Stanley Harry Littlewood (hotel night clerk, then worked at Eaton’s department store) and Phoebe Alma Gowens.

Margaret was a salesgirl, also at Eaton’s department store, and “saved every surplus penny from her salary” to put towards flying lessons.

On 3 August 1938, Margaret passed her flying test and received her PPL, making her the 61st female pilot in Canada. She was 22 years old.

Photo: Calgary Herald (April 30, 2005)

On 31 October 1940, Margaret became the fourteenth woman in Canada to get her commercial license. In January 1942, she became the third with an instructor’s rating.

When gas rationing closed down civilian flying schools, Margaret became Link Training Instructor at the Canadian Airways training school in Edmonton – logging over 1,200 hours of instruction time and training 150 pilots. Towards the end of the war, she became a trainer at Ferry Command in Quebec – working with pilots moving aircraft between North America and Europe. In April 1949, Margaret became the third woman to get her transport rating.

Margaret retired from flying in 1954 and began working in the Ministry of Transport. In April 1976, Margaret was awarded the Amelia Earhart Medal by The Ninety Nines for being the first woman to do advanced flying training. In 1980, she was honoured with a medal from the Government of Canada for her long and efficient service.

Margaret died in 2012, aged 95.