Elsie MacGill
By: Vanessa Kwan
Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill, also known as Elsie MacGill and the “Queen of the Hurricanes”, was a woman who had a lot of courage and passion into succeeding in life.1 Not only did she dominate the skies with her aircraft designs, she also fought for women’s and children’s human rights all over Canada. While triumphing through many difficult obstacles when working in Canada Car and Foundry Company, she was also an author for several times in her life. She invented the Hawker Hurricane, which was an aircraft that was greatly used during World War II. Elsie MacGill was a remarkable woman that changed history with her astounding contributions.
With the encouragements from her parents, Elsie MacGill has strived and achieved many successful acts throughout her life. MacGill was born on March 27th, 1905; at a very young age MacGill has contributed towards a variety of campaigns that helped improve women and children’s lives.2 This was influenced by her Elsie’s mother, Helen Gregory MacGill, who was the first women to become a judge in British Columbia and also she was a supporter of Women’s Suffrage.3 In 1927, MacGill graduated from the University of Toronto becoming the first woman to have a degree in electrical engineer.4 Later on in her career at the Austin Automobile Company in Pontiac, Michigan, the company started producing aircrafts which inspired MacGill to go into her studies again.5 After studying in the University of Michigan she earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.6 During this time, MacGill was also an article writer for various numbers of magazines talking about airplanes and flight.7 The money that she has earned from writing these articles, she helped fund her doctoral studies at MIT at Cambridge.8 At 33 years old she became the aeronautical chief engineer of the Canadian Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario for $350 a month.9 Throughout the years she has also received a number of impressive...