Vancouver painter Taj Jamal said they didn’t know about the “Flying Seven” until getting involved with the new mural that pays the women aviators tribute on the main building of the Langley airport.
“Really amazing,” is how Jamal described the largely unknown story to the Langley Advance Times, after their picture was taken with fellow artist Randi Hamel as they applied the finishing touches to the mural on the 2,400 sq. ft (223 sq. metres) north wall of the new Langley Regional Airport terminal building on Sunday, June 4.
The pair said it was the largest project of its type they’ve ever worked on.
“We kind of thought it would be a great project to do together,” Jamal said.
In the 1930s, when no airline would hire women pilots, a group of seven women aviators bucked the trend, and broke barriers.
Margaret Fane, Betsy Flaherty, Alma Gilbert, Rolie Moore, Jen Pike, Elianne Roberge, and Tosca Trasolini gave flying displays over Vancouver and became well known at flying exhibitions.
Among other things, the women are remembered for their marathon “dawn to dusk patrol” where the seven spent an entire day flying, taking turns to demonstrate their level of skill.
When the Royal Canadian Air Force refused to deploy them as pilots at the outbreak of the Second World War, the seven instead used their flying displays, dropping fund-raising pamphlets and raise enough to purchase eight Tiger Moth biplanes to help train male combat pilots.
Jamal and Hamel, along with designers Kelly Mellings, and Allan Whincup of Pulp Studios, were selected as the winning proposal by a Township committee, out of three submissions from groups of artists in response to a Township call for airport mural ideas in August of 2022.
The winning design shows the seven in front of a cloudscape, with planes filling the sky.
The project was managed by the Township of Langley Arts, Culture and Community Initiatives Division.
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Have a story tip? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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