Vi Milstead Warren

Vi Milstead Warren, CM was born in Toronto, Ontario on October 17, 1919. She was born to fly, a natural pilot. When taken out of school at the age of 15, she worked long hours, six days a week in her mother's wool shop to pay for flying lessons, taking her first lesson on September 4, 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. On December 14 of that year, she earned a private pilot's licence. At the age of 20 she opened her own wool shop to help finance her flying. Vi was to become an accomplished aviator in wartime and peacetime operations.

Three months after qualifying for her private license, she received a commercial license. Soon she became the subject of a film by her instructor, Pat Patterson, who hoped to use the film to draw students to Patterson and Hill Aircraft, flying from Barker Field at Toronto.

In 1941, Vi started as a flying instructor herself at Barker Field. Some of her students would go on to serve their country in the RCAF during the Second World War. However, her wool shop closed in late 1942 and fuel rationing ended civilian flying training in November. In January 1943 Vi took her last flight and closed her civilian logbook for the duration of the war.

Craving to fly, what was she to do? The answer was provided with opportunity as a pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), formed in May 1938 by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, later to become British Airways Limited. The ATA was established as a civilian operation to ferry military aircraft within Great Britain. Originally, civilian pilots not eligible for military service were intended to fly light aircraft to transport mail, news dispatches, medical supplies, ambulance cases and VIPs in light aircraft. But within six months, pilots were flying trainer aircraft, fighters and bombers from factories to airfields. Eventually over 1,200 pilots served with the ATA, including 168 women, of whom only a few were Canadians. They were often called upon to fly any one of 147 different aircraft, often with no previous experience in a particular type.

By then Vi had logged approximately 1,000 hours. At Montreal she was interviewed for the ATA and given a flight test in a Harvard by the RCAF. It was the most powerful aircraft she had flown to that time, and the first with retractable undercarriage. She and another pilot, Marion Orr, destined to become lifelong friends, passed the test and April 19, 1943, they boarded a ship for England.

Pilots with the Air Transport Auxiliary progressed through a rigorous and thorough training program. First as cadets, they were promoted to Third Officer upon completion of training. After only six days in that rank, Vi was posted for training on more complex aircraft and promoted to Second Officer. Soon she was trained to fly advanced twins and promoted to First Officer.

She was a natural pilot and her petite size of 5'2" was no impediment to her skill at the controls of military aircraft. Moving from single engine trainers she was soon to fly much larger aircraft, twin-engine aircraft, including the Beaufighter, Blenheim, Boston, Dakota, Hudson, Ventura and Whitley. Aircraft she flew had distinguished records in the war, including Mitchell and Wellington bombers and fighter aircraft such as the Spitfire, Hurricane and Mustang. American aircraft she piloted included the Corsair, Wildcat, Hellcat and Typhoon. One she considered the ultimate was the Hawker Tempest, with its powerful 24-cylinder engine that cranked out 2,800 horsepower, but her sentimental favourite was the twin-engine De Havilland Mosquito.

Sometimes Vi's first flight would be her first solo in a particular type. From April 5, 1943, to the last of her ATA flights on July 31, 1945, she flew 47 different makes of aircraft, logging 623 hours. Vi was the longest serving Canadian woman pilot with the ATA.

Following service with the Air Transport Auxiliary, Vi returned to Canada and looked for a flying job. Instructing continued to be the main flying position open to women, but there was lots of competition for those jobs. Initially she worked at Leavens Brothers, flying again from Barker Field, and it was there that Vi Milstead met Arnold Warren, who was to become her husband.

In 1947 she and Arnold began work for Nickel Belt Airways of Sudbury and Vi became one of Canada's first female bush pilots. In that capacity she flew bush planes such as the Fairchild Husky and Fleet Canuck on floats, taking prospectors, miners, lumber personnel, hunters and fishermen in and out of camps in northern Ontario. Her job also included spotting and reporting forest fires and taking men to combat fires.

In 1950, Vi and Arnold were invited to Windsor, Ontario to reactivate the Windsor Flying Club. In 1952, Arnold was contracted to train pilots in Indonesia and during her time there with him, Vi provided private lessons to aspiring pilots. Upon returning to Canada, she and Arnold sought more conventional jobs and in 1955 Vi obtained a position with Orenda Engines in Toronto, serving as secretary to Alan Wingate, an RCAF veteran "whom Vi had taught to fly in 1941". Later, Vi moved to the Ontario Water Commission "where she worked until retiring in 1973. After retirement she and Arnold continued to fly in their own aircraft, a Piper Cub and later a Mooney.

Vi Milstead Warren served as a wartime ferry pilot, as a commercial pilot, and as an instructor when it was rare for women to fly in and of those capacities. In 2004 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. Other honours have also been bestowed upon Vi. In 1978 the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines (a women's aviation organization) awarded her the Amelia Earhart Medal for contributions to aviation. In 1995, the Rusty Blakey Heritage Group in Sudbury celebrated her work as a bush pilot. In 1996, her work as an ATA pilot was documented in a film, “A Time for Courage”, produced by Cooper Rock Pictures. In 2004 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2012 she received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Vi Milstead Warren has served as a role model for women in aviation. Her accomplishments are a credit to her character and her skill as a pilot and are an inspiration to those who would follow in her flight paths. She continued to live in her beautiful log home at Cobourg, Ontario until her death, at age 94, on June 27, 2014.

The "Vi Milstead and Arnold Warren Flight Training Scholarship Fund" offers opportunities to future pilots in Colborne, Ontario.

Vi Milstead Warren was inducted as a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame June 10, 2010, at a ceremony held in Vancouver, B.C.