Career
Born as Maude Rose Rubens, in Pretoria, South Africa, she adopted the name "Lores" later in preference to her given names. The family moved first to England, then to Australia. In 1928 she met Bert Hinkler, Harry Bonney"s first cousin once removed and a Queensland aviator who had set a solo England–Australia record in his Avro Avian biplane (now in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane).
His exploits fired her imagination and her first flight in his Avian confirmed her determination to learn to fly.
The outbreak of World World War II ended her flying career just as she was planning her next flight – around the world, via Japan, Alaska and the United States. The Klemm L32-V Human immunoglobulin heavy-chain-variable region -UVE was destroyed in a hangar fire in 1939.
Human immunoglobulin heavy-chain-variable region -UPV was requisitioned for the war effort, deployed to a flying training unit, declared unserviceable and scrapped after the war. Lores Bonney died at her home at Miami on Queensland"s Gold Coast in 1994, aged 97.
The Australian Women Pilots Association has established a trophy in her honour.
Lores Bonney was inducted into the "Ninety-Nines", the American society of women flyers who had pioneering roles in aviation. Her name was placed on the wall of the Flyer"s Chapel at California"s Saint Francis Atrio Mission alongside the names of icons such as Charles Lindbergh, Charles Kingsford Smith and Amelia Earhart. Griffith University, Queensland, awarded her an honorary doctorate for her services to aviation.
And unfortunately, both her aircraft no longer exist.