Jane Winstone
Retirement Village

That’s why each Ryman village is named after a Kiwi or Aussie trailblazer. Anthony Wilding, Lady Diana Isaac, Evelyn Page to name a few. They lived with passion and purpose, they pushed further, they went beyond the ordinary. That’s exactly what we strive to do every day at Ryman. To pioneer a new way of living, for a new retirement generation.

Jane Winstone (1912–1944)

After taking up flying as a hobby at age 16, Jane Winstone was the youngest female New Zealand pilot when she flew solo at age 17. Whanganui born and bred, Winstone was a pioneer whose courage and tenacity significantly contributed to the WWII war effort and paved the way for future female aviators.

Winstone spent her youth excelling in competitive flying events and was an active member of the Whanganui aviation community. When Jean Batten toured New Zealand after her record-breaking flight from England to Australia, Winstone and the 3 other female pilots at Whanganui air club escorted Batten to Whanganui, New Plymouth, and Hawera in their de Havilland Gipsy Moths.

Passionate about contributing to the war effort, Winstone applied to the Air Transport Authority (ATA) in England. Her fiancée, a fellow pilot serving in Europe, was recorded as ‘lost at sea’ just before Winstone left New Zealand for England. At the ATA, Winstone worked her way up to the rank of second officer. A dangerous job with regular fatalities, she was one of only 5 New Zealanders to serve the ATA during WWII.

On February 10th, 1944 Winstone’s Spitfire engine failed at 600 ft. and spun to the ground, killing Winstone at 31 years of age.

Winstone features in author Shirley Laine’s book Silver Wings which was published in 1989 and profiles New Zealand’s women aviators.