Jean Burns

[3] She flew an Ansett Porterfield[4] (Model 35 or Collegiate) with her parachute instructor Mr Felix B Mueller from Melbourne to District Park Aerodrome for the Newcastle Air Display on 19 February 1938.

[5] Burns made her first parachute descent at Essendon Aerodrome on 21 November 1937 from an Airco DH.4 aeroplane Spirit of Melbourne at a height of 3,200 feet (980 m).

[6][7] The aircraft belonged to Aerat Passenger Flying (Essendon) Pty Ltd and was piloted by Howard Morris Snr.

[8][9] Burns had planned to actually descend at the age of 16, however the Civil Aviation Department were skeptical at that time, so she waited 18 months before permission was granted on the condition that her parachute be folded by a licence holder.

[13] Ambulancemen again came to her aid on her fifth jump, in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 20 February 1938, when winds took her off course resulting in a landing at A Goninan & Co after avoiding two sets of high-tension electricity cables.

[12] The jump, from 2,000 feet (610 m) over Kingsford Smith Airport, resulted in Burns suffering a cut to the chin during descent and abrasions from being dragged along the ground on landing, and she again received treatment from ambulancemen.

[13] For the first time, on 21 July 2006, Burns managed to meet Nancy Bird Walton, a fellow aviator and pioneer.

Burns (left) with another pioneering Australian aviator, Nancy Bird Walton (2006)
Burns and her new street sign