Elizabeth Muriel Gregory MacGill, (March 27, 1905November 4, 1980), known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes", was the first woman in the world to earn an aeronautical engineering degree and the first woman in Canada to receive a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of aircraft construction during her years at Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario. After her work at CC&F, she ran a successful consulting business. Between 1967 and 1970, she was a Commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, which reported in 1970.
Early life and education
MacGill was born in Vancouver on March 27, 1905, youngest daughter of James Henry MacGill, a prominent Vancouver lawyer, part-time journalist, and Anglican deacon, and Helen Gregory MacGill, a journalist and British Columbia's first woman judge. She had two older step-brothers from her mother's first marriage, and an older sister with whom she was very close.
In the early years, the MacGill children were home-schooled in a formal setting to mimic that of Lord Roberts, the public school that the older boys attended. This included drawing lessons with Emily Carr, and swimming lessons with Joe Fortes. They later attended King George Secondary School, which was affiliated with McGill University. This rigorous education facilitated Elsie's entrance to the University of British Columbia when she was 16. She was admitted to the Applied Sciences program, but the Dean of the Faculty asked her to leave after only one term.
When MacGill was 12 years old, her mother was appointed judge of the juvenile court of Vancouver. After 1911, racial strife in British Columbia continued to escalate, and Jim MacGill's immigration-related legal work was directly impacted. This caused severe financial strain for the family during the war years. Her early aptitude for "fixing things" stood the family in good stead, and informed discussions of possible careers.
MacGill's mother was an advocate of women's suffrage and influenced Elsie's decision to study engineering. Elsie graduated from the University of Toronto in 1927, the first Canadian woman to earn a degree in electrical engineering.
MacGill was admitted to the University of Toronto's Bachelor of Applied Sciences program in 1923. During the summers she worked in machine shops repairing electrical motors to supplement the theory and practical teachings during the school year. It is also here that she became exposed to the nascent field of aeronautical engineering. Contracting polio just before her graduation, MacGill was told that she would probably spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. She refused to accept that possibility though, and learned to walk supported by two metal canes. She became Canada's first woman graduate in electrical engineering.
After graduating, MacGill took a junior job with a firm in Pontiac, Michigan. During her time there, the company began producing aircraft, which furthered her interest in aeronautics. She began part-time graduate studies in aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, enrolling in the fall of 1927 in the full-time Master of Science in Engineering program to begin aircraft design work and conduct research and development in the university's new aeronautics facilities. In 1929, she became the first woman in North America, and perhaps the world, to be awarded a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering.
In order to help finance her doctoral studies at MIT in Cambridge MacGill wrote magazine articles about aircraft and flying. Her contemporary at MIT was aeronautical engineer and technical writer, M. Elsa Gardner.
Engineering career
In 1934, MacGill started work at Fairchild Aircraft's operations in Longueuil as an assistant aeronautical engineer. In 1938, she was the first woman elected to corporate membership in the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC). She presented a paper, "Simplified Performance Calculations for Aeroplanes", to the Royal Aeronautical Society in Ottawa, on March 22, 1938 to high praise. It was later published in The Engineering Journal. She also participated in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's six-part series, The Engineer in War Time; her segment was called "Aircraft Engineering in Wartime Canada". In 1942, she was elected to the position of chairman of the EIC, Lakehead Branch, after having also served as their vice-chairman.