Elsie MacGill(1905 — 1980)
Elsie MacGill
Canada
6 min read
Elsie MacGill (1905-1980) was a Canadian aeronautical engineer, the first woman in the world to earn a degree in that discipline. Nicknamed the “Queen of the Hurricanes,” she led the production of fighter aircraft during the Second World War and was a feminist activist.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1927: first woman to graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto
- 1929: first woman in the world to earn a degree in aeronautical engineering (University of Michigan)
- 1938-1943: as chief engineer at Canadian Car and Foundry, she oversaw the production of the Hawker Hurricane fighter, which earned her the nickname “Queen of the Hurricanes”
- 1967-1970: member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada
- 1971: made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Works & Achievements
The first woman to earn this degree at the University of Toronto, paving the way for Canadian women in engineering.
The first woman in the world to graduate in aeronautical engineering, a field then entirely dominated by men.
A training aircraft she designed entirely on her own, making her the first woman to design an aircraft that went into production.
Technical direction of the manufacture of more than a thousand Hurricanes at Fort William, with adaptations for the winter climate.
A biography of her mother, Judge Helen Gregory MacGill, reflecting her commitment to preserving the memory of women pioneers.
Her contribution as a commissioner to a landmark report on gender equality in Canada.
Anecdotes
In 1929, at the University of Michigan, Elsie MacGill became the first woman in the world to earn a degree in aeronautical engineering. Her mother, Helen Gregory MacGill, had been the first woman judge in British Columbia: in this family, female “firsts” were handed down like an inheritance.
That same year, she was struck by polio and had to learn to walk again with canes. Far from stopping her, she kept climbing aboard the aircraft she designed for flight tests, because she wanted to see for herself how each plane behaved.
In 1942, the American magazine True Comics devoted a comic strip to her titled “Queen of the Hurricanes.” It was rare for a real-life engineer to become the heroine of a comic aimed at young readers in the middle of a war.
At the Fort William plant, she led a team of several thousand workers who built Hawker Hurricane fighter planes. To adapt them to the Canadian climate, her teams developed modifications such as landing skis and de-icing systems that allowed the planes to take off from snow.
From 1967 to 1970, she served on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. Her stances in favor of equal pay, maternity leave, and women's access to technical professions marked her final years of activism.
Primary Sources
The comic presents Elsie MacGill as the chief engineer leading the production of Hurricane fighter aircraft in Canada, nicknamed the “Queen of the Hurricanes.”
In it, Elsie MacGill traces the life of her mother, the first woman appointed as a judge in British Columbia, and her fight for the legal rights of women and children.
The report, to which MacGill contributed as a commissioner, sets out recommendations on equal pay and women's access to employment and education.
Key Places
Birthplace of Elsie MacGill, where she grew up in a family committed to women's rights.
Institution where she earned her degree in aeronautical engineering in 1929, the first woman in the world to do so.
Site of the Canadian Car and Foundry plant where she led the design and mass production of Hurricane fighter planes.
Location of the Fairchild Aircraft plant where she began her career as an aeronautical engineer in the mid-1930s.
Capital city where the Royal Commission on the Status of Women sat, on which she served.
City where Elsie MacGill died in 1980.