A FRENCH SPORTSWOMAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2711, 15 January 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

A FRENCH SPORTSWOMAN.

A special correspondent writing from one of the European aeronautic grounds says: One of the most picturesque figures on the ground to-day was. Madame Presta, a noted French sportswoman, whose ambition is to become -the first woman aviator in France. Dressed in knickers, put-tees, and close-fitting Norfolk jacket, she -attracted considerable attention, even in this country, where a certain liberty is permitted in the matter of dress. Madame has decided views on woman’s especial fitness for aviation. She told me that she considered women better aviators than some of the men she had seen at Rheims and elsewhere.

“Some poor creatures,” she said, “lack pluck, and their nerves seem to bother them. Now, I don’t think women would' be in the least frightened by flight in an aeroplane. I believe that in this respect they would acquit themselves better than men. We women have just as much pluck as any man aviator I have yet seen.” Madame has studied aviation so thoroughly that she knows the technical side of the question from A to Z. She is now seeking practical experience. What would delight her more than anything else in the world, as she told me, would bo to pilot an -aeroplane unaccompanied. She prefers monoplanes of the Antoinette type, but iust now would not turn up her nose at a biplane if one was offered. “I have no children,” she added. “I think I ought to be allowed to indulge my hobby without risk of being sneered at.”

“But your husband?” I ventured. “Oh ? he is a dear good sort. I have won him pver at last, but it was hard work. Still, we women manage to succeed in this sort of thing when wo make up our minds to it. Here,” said Madame, pulling a document from the hip pocket of her knickers, “is the necossary authorisation from my husband to become an aviator. 'ln other words, to go and break my neck if I please.” Madame buttonholed various aviators and aeroplane manufacturers in the hope of borrowing a machine in which she could make her debut, but so far she has been coldly received. She informed me that if nothing turns up in a few days she will buy a -machine,' for fly she will, at all cost. /‘lf I don’t do it now some other woman' will, and I am determined' to be first.”