Posted on 07/26/2018 11:21:28 AM PDT by Winniesboy
Mary Ellis blazed a trail for female aviators, as one of the first women to fly Spitfires, heavy bombers and jet aircraft.
She was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which employed civilians to deliver planes from factories to airfields during the Second World War....
At one RAF base, the ground crew refused to believe she was the pilot of the Wellington bomber she had just landed.
"They actually went inside the aeroplane and searched it," she recalled.
"Everybody was flabbergasted that a little girl like me could fly these big aeroplanes all by oneself."...
Mary Ellis died on Tuesday at the age of 101....
The Aeroplane magazine fumed in a 1940 editorial: "Women anxious to serve their country should take on work more befitting their sex instead of encroaching on a man's occupation."
She was soon flying "fast and furious aeroplanes and bombers all over the country", as aircraft production and casualties rose.
The work was "exhilarating and sometimes very dangerous", she recalled. Pilots often flew unfamiliar aircraft, guided by the "Ferry Pilots notes", which gave landing instructions....
she recalled that she flew "about 1,000" aircraft during the war including 76 different types...
She was shot at, possibly by friendly fire, and had a near-miss as she landed in fog at the same time as another Spitfire coming in the opposite direction.
She also survived a crash-landing when the undercarriage on her Spitfire jammed, causing the engine to overheat.
"I just knew that I had to do something before the engine blew up. One didn't get excited or anything else. It's just a part of the job of coping with an aeroplane."...
she became one of the first women to fly Britain's first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
A true American hero by any definition of the word.
Except for the fact that she was British and flew these planes in Britain.
It’s the 76 different types, She had to learn on the fly (literally) a wide variety of aircraft and procedures. One hell of a pilot, no matter what her sex was.
“A true American hero by any definition of the word.”
She didn’t give up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
Don’t stop him... he’s on a roll.
lol
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Thanks for the ping. We are losing the Greatest Generation faster than a summer ice cream cone.
The meteor was amazing. So was she. Universal mortality is just a bummer.
I should read the article more carefully. Still a hero.
Wow, great stories. What a woman!
“Pilots often flew unfamiliar aircraft, guided by the “Ferry Pilots notes”, which gave landing instructions.”
Landing instructions pinned to the dash for pilots unfamiliar with the aircraft? LOL.
Great story, she deserves a Rest in Peace.
I met a woman who ferried Navy fighters during WWII. We met at the “Sun ‘N Fun” fly-in at Lakeland, FL. She was with a group of women who were ferry pilots and had flown the Navy Hellcat on display there at the show. Had a logbook to prove it...
Tried and true landing instruction...
Make your descent of the airplane fairly steep and when the co-pilot starts to squirm and suck his breath in, flare.
Just that easy.
Cheers,
Bat
Aside from aircraft; I’m pleasntly amused to see so many big vehicles being driven by petite, cute ladies. Ford Expeditions and Excursions, Chevy Suburbans and Tahoes, Toyota Sequoias, Nissan Armadas, Caddy Escalades, etc. And then there are the 18-wheelers. Ladies can do it.
RIP.
LOL...”landing instructions”
I squirm like that when in the co-pilot’s seat and my wife is DRIVING!
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