One of the many people who descended on Ballinrobe after the landing was Lady Sophie Heath, a famous aviation figure of the 1920s and 1930s. She was the first person – man or woman – to fly solo from Cape Town to London, with stops along the way, in 1928.
When Felix landed in Ballinrobe, Lady Heath and her husband flew to Ballinrobe to meet him. She is pictured in the photo below alongside Felix, as he is being interviewed by a reporter. Lady Heath was not in great health at the time due to injuries picked up in a crash-landing of her own some years previously.
Her arrival in Ballinrobe was a major talking-point, and illustrated just how big a story Felix’ journey was.
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- The style of the day – Lady Sophie Heath. This photo was taken on July 27th, 1928, at Croydon Airport, United Kingdom, when she had just flown a KLM passenger plane from Amsterdam as second pilot, thus becoming the first woman to ever do that – she is standing beside Myheer J Scholto who was first pilot. i.e. she was the first woman in the world to fly a passenger aeroplane.
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- Lady Sophie Heath is pictured alighting from her plane in Croydon, London, after completing her Cape Town-London flight in 1928. More on Lady Heath: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Lady_Heath.
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- Felix Waitkus is interviewed by a reporter after landing in Ballinrobe. Lady Heath and her husband are alongside. They flew their plane into Ballinrobe after the emergency landing.
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