Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady: The Robin Miller Story
In the 1940s, Robin Miller learns about aircraft and rides in many planes while growing up in Australia. She loves flying with her pilot father. One day an RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) flight arrives to take an injured boy to a hospital in the city. Robin wants to fly airplanes to save lives. But her father says, “There’s no place for women in commercial aviation.”
Robin studies nursing while also learning to fly. She graduates from nursing school and earns her pilot’s license the same year. When an RFDS flight needs a nurse, Robin goes. But she can’t fly the planes. She needs a commercial pilot license (CPL) first. Robin is the only woman in her CPL class. While working as a surgery nurse for four years, Robin studies and passes the CPL exams. But no one will hire a female pilot in the 1960s. Not even the RFDS.
When a polio outbreak occurs, a new vaccine becomes available, but people living in the Outback have no access to vaccines. Robin purchases a small plane and flies to remote locations to administer more than 37,000 doses of the oral Sabin vaccine. Because it tastes bitter, she gives the medicine to children on a sugar cube. They call her “The Sugarbird Lady.” Robin accomplishes this in two years while dodging kangaroos and stray cattle that use her plane’s wings as backscratchers. Now the RFDS is ready to hire her. These events mark the beginning of Robin Miller’s amazing aviation career.
Dianne Wolfer presents a well-researched, gripping narrative based on the life of a heroic woman who didn’t let gender bias stop her from achieving her dreams. Highly recommended for ages nine and up.
