SCOTS have been left astonished after a new mural appeared paying tribute to an early hero of Scottish aviation.
A new gable end mural on Paisley Road West in Cardonald, Glasgow pays tribute to Winifred Drinkwater – once the United Kingdom’s youngest ever pilot.
The Glasgow-born pilot known as Winnie attained her licence in May 1932 at just 19-years-old making her the world’s first female commercial pilot.
Now, a tribute has been finished this week to allow a new generation to know the story of the pilot with a QR code attached to the mural allowing for citizens to learn more of her story.
An image shared on social media shows the finished mural with Winnie standing on grass holding the propellor of a plane in one hand.
The artist has painted Winnie looking to the sky as three planes circle overhead with the mural opting to show Winnie in her long coat and gloves.
The symbolic wings badge is attached to her lapel showing that she is a pilot, which she achieved in 1932.
The Glaswegian then found a first commercial job the next year after being employed by John Cuthill Sword who owned Midland & Scottish Air Ferries.
Winnie would fly from the now defunct Renfrew Aerodrome to Campbeltown as well as completing the inter-city journey from Glasgow to London in a de Havilland Dragon.
Alongside the commercial work, there were also several charter flights including delivering newspapers to the Scottish islands and flying photographers over Loch Ness while they searched for Nessie.
It was thanks to her high-flying career that Winnie would meet her future husband Francisco Short, an airplane manufacturer, at the airdrome in Renfrew.
The pair wed in Dumfries in July 1934 and went on to have a son and a daughter with Winnie rarely taking to the skies in a professional capacity.
Winnie moved to New Zealand to live with her daughter where she remained until she passed away in 1996 at the age of 83.
ENDS
