Beryl Markham: fast-living, high-flying aviatrix

Hanna Reitsch!!!!

Seconded! Though she has been a Nazi till her end, she was indeed a very able pilot and testpilot as well. By chance I was lucky enough to meet her first glider instructor when I was a boy. He, Pit van Husen, was a very straight and very strict man. He grounded Hanna when she did not perform as he expected her to do, and he allowed me, a ten year old, ages later to ride his bike (the only one allowed at Aigen airport) where he needed it, after parking the towplane, lol.
I never ever met Hanna Reitsch, but I do have a letter asking my father to donate for a caravan for van Husen. She might not have been a nice lady, but she was a tough pilot for sure.

Michael

P.S.: She wrote a book, German title: Ich flog für Kwame Nkrumah (don´t know if it was translated? meaning: I flew for Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana))

How about Lettice Curtiss. Another wonderful writer

Hanna Reitsch!!!!

The late, lamented Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce. Not a lady to be crossed!

Yes, and she was a fan of fast cars! Perfect

Don’t forget Amy Johnson.

The late, lamented Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce. Not a lady to be crossed!

I haven’t read Markham’s book…I need to one of these days.

One book very well worth reading is Anne Lindbergh’s North to the Orient about her and Charles’ expolits.
Exceptionally well written.

I’ll go with Anne Welch who volunteered for high altitude flights in the Comet 1 – after they were known to go ‘pop’

Hilda Hewlett….a remarkable woman….the first of many.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Hewlett

Sheila Scott – solo round the world flier:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Top-World-Sheila-Scott/dp/034017742X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1338218639&sr=8-10

Buy her incredible book for a penny:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Top-World-Sheila-Scott/dp/034017742X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1338218639&sr=8-10

‘Aviatrix’ – Yes Please.

It’s a slightly arcane term in our rather illiterate times, but I like it, partly because it recognises that it was always incrementally more difficult for women to succeed in aviation. Then again, I’m an onry critter and dislike any form of dumbing-down…:diablo: :p

No personal recollections myself, but my Brother-in-Law has some amazing
anecdotes concerning Jackie Moggridge, when he was in his early days at
Southend Airport.

I’ve never liked the term Aviatrix. A pilot is a pilot, whether male of female.

Don’t forget the memorable Jacqueline Cochran.

John Green

Simply The Best.

Jean Batten CBE takes the biscuit for me. She was capable, glamorous and liked Percivals.
Interestingly, Beryl Markham’s wonderful West With The Night has often been attributed to her wartime husband. I have no opinion on the authorship, but it’s a wonderful book other than the fact that only the last few pages relate to her one record-breaking flight. Much more interesting, are all the links to other aviation personalities and characters out in Africa during that fascinating period, the Prince, Hatton, Tom Black et al. She was far more intersted in horses than aeroplanes and was forever broke. I spoke to a pre-war aviation notable about her. Upon mention of her name his face wrinkled-up and he said ‘That woman’…… She liked her men.
Jean Batten of course, passed-away in complete obscurity as a result of a dog-bite, and was buried in a paupers grave. A sad end, but in her time, she was dubbed ‘The Garbo of the skies’. However, amazingly her Gull has survived, and, having been generously refurbished and donated to The Shuttleworth Collection, was sold to New Zealand where it still survives, hung-up in the airport terminal.

I often recount the story of Mrs Markham to the female Air cadets who turn up to fly at 612 VGS on Abingdon Airfield. I’ve also tried to keep the word Aviatrix alive with them.
I’ve never read West with the Night (will do one day), but I always wonder, why she chose Abingdon as a starting point for an Atlantic flight?

Favoutite Aviatrix? Whilst I deplore her politics, I can admire the flying skill of Hanna Reich

Mine – Anne Welch (1917 – 2002).

ATA pilot and gliding pioneer.

Hi,
Here’s an interesting piece on the amazing
Beryl Markham: http://hushkit.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/higher-than-sex-the-riddle-of-aviatrix-beryl-markham/

Who is your favourite female pilot?

Try her memoirs: West with the Night. Lovely book.