Shirley Adkins probably won’t be familiar to many, but she was an influential figure in aviation in Australia. She started work with RACWA as a secretary in 1946 and learned to fly there in 1950 in a Tiger Moth. She later became RACWA Club President, Federal Secretary of the Australian Women Pilots Association, and President of the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia. Much of her behind the scenes achievements involved lobbying the authorities on behalf of industry to reduce the regulatory cost of aviation. She represented Australia at 13 FAI annual overseas conferences, and led the Australian delegation to Los Angeles in 1983 and Prague in 1984. She was the first woman in WA to gain a low-level aerobatic endorsement, owned a Tiger Moth and was endorsed on various singles and twins, and in 48 years of flying won nearly 50 local, national and AWPA competition trophies. She was awarded the Oswald Watt Gold Medal (first woman) in 1996 for her contribution to aviation in Australia, and an OAM. She passed away in 2015.