Winifred Drinkwater

Winifred Joyce "Winnie" Drinkwater (11 April 1913 – 6 October 1996) was a pioneering Scottish aviator and aeroplane engineer. She was the first woman in the world to hold a commercial pilot's licence.

Biography Drinkwater was born on 11 April 1913 at Waterfoot, Scotland, the youngest of the three children of Emma Banner and Albert Drinkwater, an engineer.

On 8 May 1932, aged 19, she gained her "B" (commercial) licence at Cinque Ports Flying Club at Lympne in Kent, making her the youngest professional pilot in the United Kingdom and the world's first female commercial pilot. Regulations at the time required pilots to be 19 years of age, Drinkwater commented to the press, "I decided to qualify for a professional licence. I could not do that until I became 19 because of the regulations, and immediately after my birthday in April I started. I have been at Lympne for three weeks, and it has been a gruelling time." A test of night flying was required as part of the qualification and despite the floodlights failing at Lympne Aerodrome on the night of her test flight, she landed successfully with the assistance of flares.

In 1933 Drinkwater was employed by John Cuthill Sword, the owner of Midland & Scottish Air Ferries as a commercial pilot. She made her first scheduled flight from Renfrew Aerodrome to Campbeltown on 27 April 1933 in a de Havilland Fox Moth biplane. Later she flew scheduled flights from Glasgow to London in a de Havilland Dragon. air ambulance work on the Western Isles and undertaking an air search for a boat of kidnappers.

Drinkwater rarely flew after her marriage. After Short's death in 1954, Drinkwater married William Orchard, a fisherman. After Orchard's death in 1983, she returned to Scotland living near Turnberry in Ayrshire. She later moved to New Zealand to live with her daughter.

In 2023, local politicians in Cardonald announced plans for Drinkwater to feature in the first of a number of interactive murals in the area, with her story and background to the street art provided via a QR code. The mural was completed in July 2023.

Drinkwater is described as a "Trailblazer" by the tour company Gallus Pedals with a bicycle being named after her. The website's bicycles commemorates the trailblazers in several different categories.Drinkwater is in the category "Women Who Redefined What Is Possible".