Great video about Elsie MacGill! The Northern Lights Aero Foundation's national awards program is named after her, and celebrates Canadian women in aviation and aerospace.
Kudos to her for her tenacity and not losing sight...or being bullied by men into losing her dream and desire to become an engineer.. Someone always has to be the first.
Transcript: A woman who broke barriers and a comic book hero, Elsie McGill was a Canadian icon who had a unique and often challenging life. She was “Queen of the Hurricanes”. Hawker Hurricane production in Canada is often associated with an extraordinary woman called Elsie MacGill. One of the fascinating aspects of the Canadian story of the Hawker Hurricane is that production was overseen by a woman, Elsie MacGill, who is generally acknowledged as the first female aircraft design engineer in the world. She got the Hurricane production moving and moving well. This was an absolutely groundbreaking role for a woman at the time and she became an important figure, not just in Canada but internationally. She was called “Queen of the Hurricanes” because there was an American comic book series in the States that covered the war period and they picked up, as the media did, on this unique situation of having a woman chief aeronautical engineer in war time. Elsie MacGill was a woman of many firsts. In 1927 she was the first woman to earn an electrical engineering degree. At the time, many universities refused to allow female applicants. Another challenge that she had as well was in her health. She had contracted polio and was told that she would be spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair. But that did not stop her from pursuing a career, and she went to MIT to do postgraduate work on aeronautics. She earned a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1929, making her the first woman in the world to do so. She started her career in 1934 in Longueuil Quebec, at Fairchild Aircraft. Suddenly, she was head hunted by Canadian Car & Foundry who had begun working on a biplane trainer called the Maple Leaf and their own fighter aircraft, the Gregor Fighter. It’s the first all metal aircraft designed and overseen by a woman. At that time, even though it was a great training plane, the Royal Canadian Air Force already had training planes and they were getting ready for war. Elsie MacGill was at Canadian Car & Foundry when they received the production contract for the Hawker Hurricane, and war was declared. At that time, in 1939, she had become the chief engineer at Canadian Car & Foundry. She was put in charge of Hurricane production in Canada, which was an incredibly important role and absolutely groundbreaking for a woman at that time. The design work had already been done so a lot of what was required was, in effect, coordination of a very large staff, but you didn’t have to develop the airplane; that was done. It was a matter of the improvements. They were able to successfully modify the Hawker Hurricane for cold weather flying which is something that definitely helped when you start getting into those situations as the seasons change. She designed the Hurricane that could be fitted with skis. She was in charge of helping make sure the plant was completely re-tooled to produce these planes. One of the challenges of that is that what they needed for wartime and the number of planes that they needed, they needed to mass produce the Hawker Hurricane. She did get around in the shop and look at how things were going and I have the quite subjective impression that she was very much appreciated for that. She also made a name for herself by coming out with a little statement that was called, “That extra little.” In that, she speaks about the man who stays for the extra couple of hours or goes home and comes back to the plant after dinner, trying to make these really tight deadlines knowing that there’s people that, they probably know, over there fighting. She really was about that putting that “extra little” in. .... You just keep pushing it to make sure you can meet the deadlines. In March 1943, abruptly, she was fired from Canadian Car & Foundry. We’re not at the end of the war yet. Both herself and Bill Solesby get marched out of the plant, publicly. It was nothing to do with her job performance. It was the result of her romance with the general manager. In 1943, in wartime Canada, this was not allowed. Neither one of them were overly concerned about the situation; they just saw it as a transition. They went off a week later, got married and went right into their new jobs in the Toronto area. “I think the bottom line about Elsie MacGill is that she was a no-nonsense personality in an era where there were people who were unconsciously patronizing towards women. From her perspective, her gender meant nothing. For her, the defining point was that she was only 33 years old when she became Chief Aeronautical Engineer. That was what stood out for her. Obviously, history will tell that we do focus in on the fact that she was the woman -- she was the first woman.
Strikes me as the Canadian/Allied Hanna Reitch. The Female German Test Pilot during the Nazi era, Reitch cause quite a stir at the time in German in the same way as MacGill, in being a woman in a mans' world......
*BRAVA,* Elsie McGill!
WOW! Elsie is amazing! Canada has always been a progressive country, and still is, not without barriers that need to be overcome.
Brad Yelich I’m watching this video just to hear my name
@@jaffacake43 Enjoy!
Great video about Elsie MacGill! The Northern Lights Aero Foundation's national awards program is named after her, and celebrates Canadian women in aviation and aerospace.
Kudos to her for her tenacity and not losing sight...or being bullied by men into losing her dream and desire to become an engineer.. Someone always has to be the first.
good for her !
Transcript:
A woman who broke barriers and a comic book hero, Elsie McGill was a Canadian icon who had a unique and often challenging life.
She was “Queen of the Hurricanes”.
Hawker Hurricane production in Canada is often associated with an extraordinary woman called Elsie MacGill.
One of the fascinating aspects of the Canadian story of the Hawker Hurricane is that production was overseen by a woman, Elsie MacGill, who is generally acknowledged as the first female aircraft design engineer in the world.
She got the Hurricane production moving and moving well.
This was an absolutely groundbreaking role for a woman at the time and she became an important figure, not just in Canada but internationally.
She was called “Queen of the Hurricanes” because there was an American comic book series in the States that covered the war period and they picked up, as the media did, on this unique situation of having a woman chief aeronautical engineer in war time.
Elsie MacGill was a woman of many firsts. In 1927 she was the first woman to earn an electrical engineering degree.
At the time, many universities refused to allow female applicants.
Another challenge that she had as well was in her health.
She had contracted polio and was told that she would be spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
But that did not stop her from pursuing a career, and she went to MIT to do postgraduate work on aeronautics.
She earned a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1929, making her the first woman in the world to do so.
She started her career in 1934 in Longueuil Quebec, at Fairchild Aircraft.
Suddenly, she was head hunted by Canadian Car & Foundry who had begun working on a biplane trainer called the Maple Leaf and their own fighter aircraft, the Gregor Fighter.
It’s the first all metal aircraft designed and overseen by a woman.
At that time, even though it was a great training plane, the Royal Canadian Air Force already had training planes and they were getting ready for war.
Elsie MacGill was at Canadian Car & Foundry when they received the production contract for the Hawker Hurricane, and war was declared.
At that time, in 1939, she had become the chief engineer at Canadian Car & Foundry.
She was put in charge of Hurricane production in Canada, which was an incredibly important role and absolutely groundbreaking for a woman at that time.
The design work had already been done so a lot of what was required was, in effect, coordination of a very large staff, but you didn’t have to develop the airplane; that was done.
It was a matter of the improvements.
They were able to successfully modify the Hawker Hurricane for cold weather flying which is something that definitely helped when you start getting into those situations as the seasons change.
She designed the Hurricane that could be fitted with skis.
She was in charge of helping make sure the plant was completely re-tooled to produce these planes.
One of the challenges of that is that what they needed for wartime and the number of planes that they needed, they needed to mass produce the Hawker Hurricane.
She did get around in the shop and look at how things were going and I have the quite subjective impression that she was very much appreciated for that.
She also made a name for herself by coming out with a little statement that was called, “That extra little.”
In that, she speaks about the man who stays for the extra couple of hours or goes home and comes back to the plant after dinner, trying to make these really tight deadlines knowing that there’s people that, they probably know, over there fighting.
She really was about that putting that “extra little” in.
....
You just keep pushing it to make sure you can meet the deadlines.
In March 1943, abruptly, she was fired from Canadian Car & Foundry.
We’re not at the end of the war yet. Both herself and Bill Solesby get marched out of the plant, publicly.
It was nothing to do with her job performance. It was the result of her romance with the general manager.
In 1943, in wartime Canada, this was not allowed.
Neither one of them were overly concerned about the situation; they just saw it as a transition.
They went off a week later, got married and went right into their new jobs in the Toronto area.
“I think the bottom line about Elsie MacGill is that she was a no-nonsense personality in an era where there were people who were unconsciously patronizing towards women.
From her perspective, her gender meant nothing.
For her, the defining point was that she was only 33 years old when she became Chief Aeronautical Engineer.
That was what stood out for her.
Obviously, history will tell that we do focus in on the fact that she was the woman -- she was the first woman.
A fine example of the Can - Do spirit.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Strikes me as the Canadian/Allied Hanna Reitch. The Female German Test Pilot during the Nazi era, Reitch cause quite a stir at the time in German in the same way as MacGill, in being a woman in a mans' world......
I am just here since it’s my name