nee Clare Father Capt. Samuel Clare, MBE, Mother Florence R [Boyling] Travelled to Peru with her parents in 1925, intending to settle in Talara - which is presumably where her father was working (He was an Oil Mining Engineer, working for G W Brake). They then moved back to England, via the USA, in 1929. Travelled to Paita, Peru and ... m. 1935 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Robert Arden Ratliff, a Chemical Engineer from Sisterville, WV. They sailed to the USA to stay with his father Perry in Cromwell, Oklahoma in Nov 1936, and again in Apr 1940. She flew from Barranca Bermeja, Colombia, to the USA in Oct 1941. prev. exp: 157 hrs in USA Address in 1943: 202 NW Palm St, Ponca, OK Next of Kin: (Father) 'The Beeches', Station Rd, Blaxton, Doncaster, Yorks She sailed to join the ATA from Canada, arriving 14 Nov 1943 in Bristol. Postings: 7FPP
Images kindly sent to me by Jane Custons m. 29 Sep 1945 Maj. Walker Lee Boone from Miami, Oklahoma. He was a highly-decorated P-47 and P-51 pilot who had completed 140 missions. They married at Sherburn-in-Elmet airfield, her Ferry Pool air base.
"Capt Walker L Boone, 82nd Ftr Sqn, 78th FG in his original 'Margaret', a razorback P-47"
The Miami News-Record, Oklahoma, reported that "Mrs Boone was qualified to fly every type of single-engine aircraft and on every type of twin-engine fighter-bomber aircraft as first pilot. "[OK] "Serving as co-pilot on multi-engine aircraft, she flew amongst others the B-17 and B-24." [Nope]. "She ferried wounded, flew blood-plasma, and carried important people to their destinations." [I doubt it] "Among her other duties she flew fighter airplanes from the factory to their operational bases and then flew combat damaged aircraft to their repair depot for repairs." [OK, more or less ...]
They then sailed on the 'Ile de France' to the USA in October 1945, the passage having been paid for by the ATA, and lived at 211 A St, NE Miami, OK Two daughters; Leeann Malinda, (later Hughes) b. Oct 1946, and Marlee Rose (Anacker) Walker Boone d. Aug 1962 - Wichita, KS (Age 44) m. 'Mac' McElroy [d. 1977] and lived in North Carolina
d. 1 Jul 1985 - Carver, Minnesota [Aged 68] Jane tells me that "My mum Mary Ann Hoole MBE (nee Clare) was half sister to Margaret. She was born in 1938 from Samuel Clare’s second marriage to Rose Alice Mitchell and was only young when she first met Joan - she remembers this very smart lady in her uniform coming to their door at Blaxton asking for their mum, and how much her and her brother were in awe of her."
Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file): |
1945
"Wildcat, Aug 45"
Imperial War Museum
