Father d. 1925 having been gassed in WWI Stepfather Mr Grapel, d. 1944 One sister; brother James died in WWII Ed. Montrose College, Cliftonville; RADA prev: Blind School Hospital, Leatherhead; Mobile VAD (voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse, attached to various RAF Hospitals, from Feb 1941 to Jul 1943 (where she worked with Monique Agazarian, and played tennis with Dan Maskell) Applied after seeing an advertisement, interviewed at White Waltham.
ab initio pilot cadet [because "I thought it would be glamorous"] Postings: 5FPP, 15FPP 3rd Officer from 11 Aug 1944 - Class 3 pilot One accident, not her fault: - 31 May 1945, the hood blew off her Spitfire XVI TD134 and damaged the fin and rudder
Gained her RAeC 'A' Certificate No 20588 as part of the ATA 'Wings' scheme on 29 Sep 1945, and later a Commercial 'B' Licence:
Address in 1945:17 Basil Mansions, Basil St, London SW3 From January 1946, 'Star Girl No. 1', Britain's first post-war air hostess, for British South American Airlines: (see also Rita Baines, who was 'Star Girl No. 2). Her first BSAA flight was in a Lancastrian from the newly-opened 'Heath Row Airport' with ex-Pathfinder chief Don Bennett, the MD of BSAA, on board. Flew Spitfires and Hurricanes for Skyways to the Portuguese Air Force, until she crashed a Spitfire
m. Jan 1952 in Kensington, Cyril John Cunningham daughter Deborah b. 1955?
Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file): IWM interview (1987) here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009976 |
ATA
ATAM
RAeC 1945
