Vi Milstead Warren

Vi Milstead learned to fly in 1939, as war was breaking out in Europe.  She worked in her mother’s wool shop, saving her earnings until she had enough money to finance her Private and Commercial Licenses.  In 1940 Vi's source of income ended when her mother sold the business. Vi decided to buy her own wool shop and at the age of 20 became a Toronto businesswoman.

After completing her Commercial License and Instructor Rating, Vi instructed at Barker Field until the fall of 1942 when rationing of aviation fuel ended civilian flying in Canada.

In early 1943, Vi joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in England.  The ATA was a civilian group of male and female pilots from several different countries whose job was to clear airplanes from factories and deliver them to maintenance units and military bases throughout Britain and to continental Europe. As Vi was trained to fly increasingly complex aircraft she was quickly promoted through the ranks from Cadet to Third, Second and finally, First Officer. Her First Officer designation indicated that she was qualified to fly all single and twin-engine aircraft. At 5’ 2” she usually had to sit on her parachute to see out the cockpit window. During the remainder of WW II Vi delivered 47 different types of military airplanes.  Her favourites were the Spitfire and the Mosquito.

When Vi returned home after the war her parents hoped she had gotten flying out of her system. For a few months Vi worked downtown in an office but by spring her homing instinct took her back to Barker Field. The Chief Flight Instructor, Arnold Warren clearly recognized a good pilot when he met her. First he hired Vi as an instructor and later married her.

In 1947 Vi and Arnold moved to Sudbury where they worked for Nickel Belt Airways as instructors and bush pilots. As Canada’s first woman bush pilot her work included flying surveyors to inspect mining sites or trappers returning home with supplies. She also flew men who had been recruited in beer parlours to fight local forest fires, and had to encourage the odd one to leave the comfort of the airplane and get on with fire-fighting.

Following a stint in Windsor when Vi and Arnold had been hired to reactivate the Windsor Flying Club, they moved to Indonesia. Vi’s husband, Arnold Warren was in charge of training Indonesian pilots. Sadly, in this largely Moslem country, though she was issued an Indonesian pilot license, as a woman, Vi was not allowed to instruct for the company.

Back in Canada, Vi and Arnold flew recreationally in their Piper Cub and then a Mooney. In 1981 Vi retired from flying.

In 2004 Vi received an Order of Canada for her pioneering work in aviation.

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