W.152 3rd Officer  Joyce Ann Fenwick 
 flag england b. 3 Mar 1918, Southampton 21 Feb 1944 to Apr 1945 

 W152 Fenwick Joyce  ATA

   WwW    

 

 Mother: [Donald], from Edinburgh

Prev. WAAF from Jun 1942, stationed at RAF Ailton


Ab initio pilot

Postings: 7FPP

m. Sep 1944 John de Winton 'Johnnie' Tharp, also of the ATA.

ata john de winton tharp 1945

"Flying Romance

There was a wedding in Old Bosham Church on Tuesday, which was the culmination of a war time flying romance, when Third Officer John Tharp, of the A.T.A., married Cadet Joyce Fenwick, also of the A.T.A. They are both pilots and ferry aircraft.

John Tharp is the second son of Mr. Charles Tharp, the well-known portrait painter, who has made his home in Old Bosham since the war, and whose beautiful picutres, portraits and landscapes are hanging in the Anchor Inn. Charles Tharp was at The Slade School of Art with Sir William Orpen and Augustus John, and has had many pictures hung in the Royal Academy. 

John Tharp was in the First Parachute Battalion formed in the early days of the war, but injured his back doing a jump, and was invalided out. Later he joined the A.T.A. 

The bride was given away by Third Officer John Gilbert, A.T.A. pilot, and her sister Marjorie Fenwick, was bridesmaid. The best man was Hugh Stewart, B.B.C. producer. The Rev. A. L. Chatficld officiated. Mrs. Turvey. the bridegroom’s sister, made the wedding cake, and decorated the church with the help of Third Officer (Mrs.) Bannister, another A.T.A. pilot. A delicious tea for 30 people was provided by Mrs. Leather at The Grange. Mr. Graham Tharp, who is a film producer for M.o.I., did a lot of work as M.C., and Mrs. Diana Britton did “billeting officer,” finding bed and accommodation for numerous guests, not an easy thing to do these days. After spending a night in Bosham, the happy couple left for the Scilly Isles to spend their honeymoon. " - Chichester Observer - Saturday 16 September 1944

 2 accidents, one her fault:

- 2 Dec 1944, a heavy landing in Spitfire V X4280, breaking the port undercarriage and wing

- 24 Feb 1945, her Argus I EV803 was hit whilst taxying, by Ida van Zenten in Argus FK337

 

 "She left ATA in April 1945, owing to a rather unexpected pregnancy that was only discovered when she went to the sick bay complaining of nausea" - WAAF with Wings


They moved to Kenya, but John appears to have died in an air accident in Tanganyika, 20 Jul 1951 - see Accident Avro Anson Mk I VP-KHT, 20 Jul 1951 (aviation-safety.net)

 Joyce and her daughter Gilian Carol, aged 8, sailed from Mozambique back to the UK in September 1954 to visit her mother in Edinburgh, then returned to Kenya, where they lived until they returned to the UK in 1962 before going to Fiji. 

 

m. c.1956 Maj. Kenneth Spicer Few (a lawyer who had been a PoW of the Japanese after the fall of Singapore, from Feb 1942 to 2 Sep 1945) (d. 1975)

They, together with daughter Sara (b. 21 Jun 1957), sailed to the UK from Kenya in Feb 1959, and back in Jun 1959, for four months. He is listed as a "Resident Magistrate"

 

d. 20 Dec 1973 - Cambridge

 


 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.jpg):download grey

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