SOPHIE Pierce-Evans — better known to history as Lady Heath — was one of the most extraordinary Irish women of the 20th century.
She was a pioneer whose life combined aviation daring, political radicalism and a restless determination to defy the limits placed on women in her age.
Born Sophia Peirce-Evans in Knockaderry, Co. Limerick, in 1896, she grew up in a turbulent Ireland shaped by revolution and the fight for independence.
Educated at University College Dublin, she was an early supporter of Irish republicanism and worked as a journalist during the War of Independence, using her pen as well as her voice in the cause of national freedom.
But it was in the air rather than on the ground that she would make her greatest mark.
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