Having just read the new autobiography of ATA ferry pilot Lettice Curtis from cover to cover, on my recent travels, how is this for a day’s flying?
1) Air taxi White Waltham to Brooklands.
2) Wellington HX598 Brooklands to Little Rissington.
3) Spitfire EP410 Little Rissington to LLandow.
4) Mosquito DD671 St Athan to Ford.
5) Mustang AG505 Ford to Lichfield.
6) Taxi Puss Moth Lichfield to Castle Bromwich.
7) Wellington X9707 Castle Bromwich to White Waltham.
4 hours 5 minutes total flying time for the day.
Post war, Lettice went on to fly and race the Spitfire Mk XI PL983/N74138 allocated to the US Civil Air Attaché Tony Satterthwaite. This aircraft ended up as the airfield marker at Shuttleworth for many years before subsequent restoration to flight.
A remarkable woman.
Mark
By: Auster Fan - 10th December 2004 at 21:26
Sigh – if only she had an interesting life…………….!! :rolleyes:
By: macky42 - 10th December 2004 at 18:29
I should think most of those women ATA pilots have logbooks that would turn any aviator green with envy.. 😀
By: Dan Johnson - 10th December 2004 at 18:24
I was lucky enough to get to correspond with Lettice Curtis breifly in th 80s while looking for ATA pilots who’d flown the XII. She’d flown a few of them on delivery flights. EN223, MB832, MB845, MB849, MB855 and MB875.
Her comments on the XII:
“I have a vivid recollection of the enormous torque of the Mk. XII. When taxying it felt as if at any moment the prop would stop and the aircraft spin round it. ATA pilots were told not to use more then +9 boost for take-off as initially at any rate, at full power not even full left rudder would I believe counteract the swing. I remember how the aircraft ‘lent over’ even whilst taxying and believe this had a marked effect on tyre wear”.
It was nice that she responded to a then young upstart Spit XII fanatic 🙂
Dan
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December 10, 2004 at 5:35 pm