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Royal
International Air Tattoo![]() Part two: Women in Aviation & Training Guy Harvey looks at the dominant themes of the weekend. All pictures by the author unless stated otherwise.
A pre-event symposium in Cambridge allowed 'Women in Aviation' to exchange views and experiences ninety years after the UK's first female aviator, Mrs Hilda Hewlett, was given a pilot's licence at Brooklands Race Track. Hilda Beatrice Hewlett was born in the Victorian London of 1864, a vicars daughter who went to art college and also trained as a nurse. Her husband Maurice was a romantic novelist. Hildas life took a completely new direction when she saw the first English flying meeting at Blackpool in 1909. Adopting the alias "Grace Bird", Hilda arrived
at Mourmelon-le-Grand aerodrome in France later that year to study aeronautics. She met
Gustave Biondeau and they became business partners, united by a passionate belief in
aviation. On 29 August 1911, aged 47, Hilda Hewlett was awarded Ticket No. 122 and flew into the history books as Britains first woman pilot. She promptly taught her son to fly, possibly the only naval airman in the world to be taught to fly by his mother!
Speaking just before RIAT 2001, the Chief of The Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, said "I am delighted that RIAT salutes the achievements of airwomen, from early pioneers to the young women who are increasingly at the cutting edge of modern military airpower, both in the air and on the ground."
Supplying the front-line
The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was formed in September 1939 to fly urgent mail in light aircraft but, with the outbreak of World War II just days later, the role of the ATA became much more important. The new organisation began to deliver factory aircraft to the RAF as it geared up for full-scale combat. For the first few months, all ATA pilots were men. In January 1940 the Government decided that experienced women pilots could join the ATA. Miss Pauline Gower, a pilot with 2,000 flying hours, recruited other women aviators to fly for the first time with the British military. The original eight pilots eventually rose to 150, not only British but from the Commonwealth, Europe and the USA. Three times as many men served with the ATA.
At first women were only permitted to fly 'the light type of aircraft'. As a shortage of pilots became more desperate common sense prevailed and competent women flyers coped with everything from Tiger Moths to heavy four-engined bombers. During World War II the ATA delivered 309,011 aircraft of 147 different types, freeing over-stretched RAF pilots from routine duties. Aircraft were handed over to the ATA as basic airframes, with no instruments or weapons fitted. Before take-off the pilots were given a sheaf of 'handling notes' to be strapped to the knee for reference during the flight. There was seldom time to practise in advance on unfamiliar aeroplanes. Over 100 ATA pilots were lost in flying accidents. Fifteen of these were women, including the legendary Amy Johnson who died on 5 January 1941. After running out of fuel in dense fog over the Thames Estuary, she bailed out of the twin-engined Airspeed Oxford but died in the freezing waters. The ATA flag was hauled down for the last time on 30 November 1945. A modern-day Amy Johnson
Polly touched down at Birmingham Airport on 17 May 2001 to complete an epic 29,000-mile flight. She is the first woman to fly single-handed around the world via Australia in such a small aircraft; her record-breaking Piper Dakota is not much bigger than a family estate car. The trip lasted 124 days, and in 47 hops she landed in 17 countries. The former music teacher from Oxfordshire did not learn to fly until 1993, when she was living in Australia for two years.
Polly took on the round-the-world challenge to raise money for The Royal International Air Tattoo Flying Scholarships for the Disabled. Since 1983, when the scheme was established in memory of Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, close to 200 men and women with disabilities have experienced the joy of flying. On Sunday Polly flew into the Flying Scholarships awards
ceremony aboard an RAF Harrier T10 flown by Squadron Leader Al Pinner of IV(F) Squadron,
which is based at RAF Cottesmore. A single Harrier had taken to the air to wish Polly
bon voyage when she left Birmingham in May, and At the awards ceremony Polly presented a cheque for £160,000 to HRH Prince Feisal of Jordan. When invested this money will provide an annual scholarship in perpetuity so in the years to come there will be many disabled men and women with every reason to be grateful to Polly and her remarkable achievement.
The training theme provided two segments to the flying display, the first dedicated to RAF training, starting with the Firefly and Tucano, ending with the mighty Tornado F3. The only element missing was the Grob Tutor, but as it doesnt actually form part of the pilots training plan (being used for CFS, UAS and AEF duties) it didnt detract from the career path offered. The second segment of the display was much shorter, being Other Nations Training and represented by the Belgian Alpha Jet and Dutch PC-7. The latter was deputising for the Slovenian PC-9 which hadnt made it to Cottesmore, but was a more colourful and definitely smoky display than the 9 would have been.
Part three: Tributes, Tornados and T'other things
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