Mary Bell (aviator)
| Mary Teston Luis Bell | |
|---|---|
Mary Bell commanding the Women's Air Training Corps, 1941
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| Nickname(s) | "Paddy" |
| Born | 3 December 1903 Launceston, Tasmania |
| Died | 6 February 1979 (aged 75) Ulverstone, Tasmania |
| Allegiance | Australia |
| Service/branch | Royal Australian Air Force |
| Years of service | 1941–45 |
| Rank | Flight Officer |
| Unit | WAAAF (1941–45) |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Other work | Farmer |
Mary Teston Luis Bell (3 December 1903 – 6 February 1979) was an Australian aviator and founding leader of the Women's Air Training Corps (WATC), a volunteer organisation that provided support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. She also helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the first and largest women's wartime service in the country, which grew to number more than 18,000 members by 1944. Born Mary Fernandes in Tasmania, she married RAAF officer John Bell in 1923 and obtained a pilot's licence in 1927. Given temporary command of the WAAAF on its formation in 1941, she was passed over as its inaugural Director in favour of corporate executive Clare Stevenson. Bell refused the post of Deputy Director and resigned, but subsequently rejoined and served until the final months of the war. She and her husband later became farmers. Nicknamed "Paddy", Mary Bell died in 1979 at the age of seventy-five.
Born on 3 December 1903 in Launceston, Tasmania, Mary Bell was the daughter of Rowland Walker Luis Fernandes, an English-born clerk, and his wife Emma. She attended Church of England Girls' Grammar School, Launceston and St Margaret's School, Devonport, before commencing work in a solicitor's office at the age of fourteen. She married John Bell (1889–1973), a Royal Australian Air Force officer and World War I veteran of Gallipoli and the Australian Flying Corps, at St Andrew's Anglican Church in Brighton, Victoria on 19 March 1923. They had one daughter.
From 1925 until early 1928, the Bells lived in Britain while John attended RAF Staff College, Andover and acted as RAAF liaison officer to the Royal Air Force. Interested in aviation since her teens, Mary learnt to fly in England and in April 1927 qualified for a Grade 'A' private pilot's licence. Returning to Australia, she was the first female to gain a pilot's licence in Victoria, on 20 March 1928. The following year, she became the first Australian woman to qualify as a ground engineer.
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