W.156 3rd Officer  Mrs Yvonne Margaret 'Peggy' Eveleigh 
 flag england  b. 18 Aug 1917, London 21 Feb-44 to Sep-45 

W157 Eveleigh Yvonne  ATA

 yvonne eveleigh 1945  RAeC 1945    

 

née Lucas

Father: Lieut. Albert James Lucas, R.F.C., (killed whilst flying in France in May 1917), mother Violet Cordelia [Chauncy] (m. 1932 Douglas G Shrubshall)

 

m.1939 in Surrey, Derek Ernest Eveleigh, who d. 22 Apr 1940 in the crash of BOAC's Lockheed 14 G-AFKD at Binn Uird, near Loch Lomond, Dunbarton, en route from Perth to Heston


 Postings: 5TFP, 2FPP

exp. in ATA: 178.35 hrs

 3 accidents, one her fault:

- 14 Feb 1945, the starboard tyre of her Spitfire IX MA639 burst while taxying, and the aircraft swung off the perimeter track and nosed over

- 20 Aug 1945, a forced landing in Oxford II T1258 after engine vibration caused by a bent propeller tip

- 3 Sep 1945, she failed to control the landing swing of Spitfire III SP196, damaging the starboard wing tip

 

Gained her RAeC 'A' Certificate No 20527 as part of the ATA 'Wings' scheme on 31 Aug 1945

 Address in 1945: King's Arms, Tedburn St Mary, nr Exeter, Devon


 

m. Oct 1946 in Aylesbury, Roger G Grace

m. Oct 1952 in Westminster, Maj. Charles E Kaiser

m. Edouard Stamfer

All three post-war marriages ended in divorce.

 

Wrote 'WAAF with Wings' in 1992:

"A very good book published in 1992 by Y M Lucas (Peggy) called ’WAAF with Wings’ tells the story of the ATA with contributions from the girls themselves. In it Peggy describes delivering a repaired Martinet to St Eval for target towing and collecting a damaged Spitfire from there to deliver to a Maintenance Unit.

Peggy Lucas continued flying and at age 84 qualified as a helicopter pilot!

 1993

Frankie Horsburgh, a Canadian, located 16 out of the 17 [ex-WAAF ATA pilots] for their first reunion."

http://www.olivehouserock.co.uk/link/144/index_files/Page549.htm

 

d. 8 Jan 2008 - buried St Nicholas Church in Remenham, Berkshire.

She reverted to 'Eveleigh' as her surname:

 

see http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/stfrideswide/lucas.html


 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):download grey

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