The Fabulous Flying Mrs. Miller

When looking at the life of Jessie ‘Chubbie’ Miller (1902 – 1972) one could easily mistake her for Kerry Greenwood’s Hon Phryne Fisher considering how much she achieved during her life time from flying with some of the world’s most famous and some would argue (Infamous!) female pilots in history, Amelia Earhart being one of her comrades in arms during the “Powder Puff Derby” which was officially known as Women’s Air Derby in 1929 in which Ms. Miller competed in.

Ms. Miller’s life was filled with intrigue and later became famous for her involvement in one of the United States of America’s most contested murder trial which unfortunately has overshadowed her aviation achievements, moreover, Mrs. Miller continued to work in aviation over the course of her life time and after such a rise, especially during the era in which women flew for leisure and as opposed to that, Mrs. Miller offered to fly for Hollywood and continued to work in aviation for the rest of her life and continued to have a variety of works written about her. Naturally, with my curiosity stoked beyond belief used the resources at the National Library to use Carol Baxter’s “The Fabulous Flying Mrs. Miller: An Australian’s True Story of Adventure, Danger, Romance and Murder.” Which has practically sensationalized Mrs. Miller’s life however, as Mrs. Miller stated herself “Life at its best is short anyway so I guess I have no complaint coming.” Once more, I am strikingly reminded of Hon Phryne Fisher and her gold plated revolver.

Mrs. Miller’s spirt of defiance and tenacity remains firmly held within my heart and deserves to be at the forefront of Australian Aviation Heritage and not lost to the back shelves of various libraries.

Submitted by Dayna Scott