The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-22

Copyright, 1913. by Curtis Brown)
r ONDON, February A.-(Special)
Who is the pluckest woman in
- Europe? Probably there would be
keen competition for this distinction, but
one faneies that most people-especially
her French admrers--would hand it un-
hesitatingly to Miss Eleanor Trehawke
Davies, the English flying girl who
got up from a bed OF illness to loop the
loop with Gustav Eamel, the other day,
and who has made more aeroplane flights,
and had more exciting adventures in the
air than any other woman living.
Miss Davies. who is dangerously i'll,
told me, yesterday, in what she described
as the first real interview that she ever
has granted that she disregarded her
physicians imperative orders and accept
ed Hamels invitation to go up with him,
because she wanted the distinction of
being the first woman to fly upside
down in addition to those which she
possessed already OF being the first of
her sex to fly across the English cham
mel and of having ascended higher in
the air than any other woman, as well
as that, which she neglected to mention.
of having spent perhaps, more money on
aviation, than any other private person
has done As direct result of her re-
cent defiance of her physician this girl,
who owns two aeroplanes and has made,
in all. between $50 and 200 flights, now
lies in a critical condition, and there is
a sad possibility that the interview with
her that follows may be not only the
first, but also the last that ever will be
printed.
IL you have kept any track whatever
OF the progress of aviation on this side of
the water, the name of Eleanor Trehawke
Davies must be familiar to you, but what
have you ever heard about her PERSONAL
ity? Just nothing, one is willing to wager,
which is exactly as much as most folk
, on this side of the water have heard
When she made her famous first flight
across the channel with Hamel the papers
were full of 1t. and when as a passenger
with the late j. H. T. Ashley, she came
dashing down from height of 800 feet
to what seemed certain death and wrote
In her diary the WHILE all the world mar
veled at her nerve, yet in whole sheaf
of newspaper clippings which, prior to
seeing her, / had collected. there is no
, word to tell who she is, or anything Of
her history-whch proves to have been
an uncomnonly interesting one-before
she took mp flying.
Why is this?
Because I am hopelessly old-fash-
ioned was the surprising reply of the
flying woman, and have real horror
of talking about myself.
| had found her in bed, which she has
not left since her looping the loop" ex-
perlence just slip of girl, perhaps
q or IS, rather under the medium height.
with a naturally thin, oval "Gioconda'
face, now made thinner still by illness,
large, dark eyes, and mass OF darker
hair, done in an Edna May coiffiure.
Her pluck is truly amazing. for it proves
that, after performing some of her most
daring flights at Hendon, she has gone
straight home to undergo an operation,
I and In addition to the serious illness from
ky.which she has suffered for many months
y she still is crippled by the effects of no
less than four severe motor-car acci-
dents.
II really am quite early Victorian" she
declared. with quizzical smile II am
not suffragette nor a phiatelist. and
I've never played golf nor tennis in my
life. It's because of my old-fashioned
ideas that I've always contented myself