October, 2026

Ninety years ago this month, the great aviatrix Jean Batten landed her Gypsy Moth at Mangere aerodrome in Auckland. She had left England 11 days earlier, completing the first solo flight from England to New Zealand, about as far as anyone could go.

Jean Batten had set the England to Brazil record a couple of years earlier, and after her arrival in New Zealand, she toured the country and Australia, before flying her aircraft back to England, lodging more records.  After serving in the war, though failing to join an air service, she led a sadder life, dominated by her mother, and eventually died unknown in a hotel in Mallorca. Batten was buried in an unmarked grave until a journalist rediscovered her in 1987.

There is a fine sculpture of her at Auckland Airport, and we have for sale her autographs. One is on a printed card along with a newspaper photograph of her, dated the year of her greatest success. The other is on a leaf from an autograph album with the signatures of the aviator Charles Kingsford Smith, 25/9/25; Jean Batten (2), 30 Dec 1929, 26/6 1934; and on the reverse, "My best wishes, Gracie Fields, Monty Banks". Monty Banks was Gracie Field's husband.

She was in great company, but stands out for the great Kiwi that she was, perhaps still not fully appreciated worldwide.