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Obras de Diana Barnato Walker

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Fecha de nacimiento
1918-01-15
Fecha de fallecimiento
2008-04-28
Lugar de sepultura
Englefield Green Cemetery, Surrey, England, UK
Género
female
Nacionalidad
UK
Lugar de nacimiento
London, England, UK
Lugar de fallecimiento
Surrey, England, UK
Lugares de residencia
London, England, UK
Lingfield, Surrey, England, UK
Ocupaciones
aviator
autobiographer
farmer
pilot
Air Transport Auxiliary pilot
Organizaciones
Air Transport Auxiliary
Premios y honores
MBE
FRAeS
Biografía breve
Diana Barnato Walker was born in London, England, during a Zeppelin raid in World War I. Her parents were the wealthy financier Woolf Joel Barnato and his American wife Dorothy Maitland. She came out as a debutante at age 18 in 1936. In 1938, for something to do, she learned to fly a Tiger Moth, going solo in just six hours.

When World War II broke out, she hoped to become a fighter pilot. However, women were barred from air combat, so she signed up as an "Atagirl," an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot.

She delivered 260 unarmed Spitfires from factories to Royal Air Force airfields between 1942 and 1945. She was quietly proud of the fact that she managed to land each and every one, no matter the weather, without a scratch.

She also flew Gladiators, Beaufighters, Hurricanes, Mosquitoes, Mustangs, Typhoons, and Mitchell bombers. A famous photograph shows her climbing aboard a Mk IX Spitfire at RAF Hamble, Hampshire, in May 1945, dressed in her trademark fleece-lined Afghan shepherd's leather jacket. In 1944, she married Wing Commander Derek Walker. They flew together in a pair of Spitfires on a honeymoon trip to Brussels, Belgium, and back, although officially it was a reconnaissance mission. Barnato Walker was thus the only British woman on record to fly a Spitfire over the English Channel into occupied Europe during the war. Her husband died in a flying accident in November 1945.
After war ended, Barnato Walker gained her commercial flying license. For many years she was a volunteer pilot with the Women's Junior Air Corps (WJAC), later the Girls' Venture Corps, giving flights to teenage girls to encourage them to become pilots. In 1963, Barnato Walker became the first British woman to break the sound barrier, taking an RAF Lightning jet from RAF Middleton St. George, England, to Mach 1.6.
She had a 30-year relationship with American-born racing driver and Battle of Britain pilot Whitney Straight, who went on to become chairman of British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC). They had a son together, although Straight remained married to his wife.

In later life, she worked for a variety of charities and farmed sheep in Surrey. She was awarded the MBE in 1965 for services to aviation and was named a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. In 1994, she published her autobiography, Spreading My Wings.
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Miembros

Reseñas

Intrigued by the glamorous introduction to this adventurous pilot in Giles Whittell's book Spitfire Women, Diana Barnato Walker is now one of my heroines. Brave and beautiful, with enough inner strength and energy to take to the skies and survive the lows, Diana is truly inspiring. From debutante to 'atagirl', Diana flew over 80 types of aircraft during the war, including Spitfires, lost a fiance and a husband in tragic circumstances, then went on to break the sound barrier, battle cancer, and was awarded a well-deserved MBE in recognition of her spectacular career. If her life was packed into a novel, I would have a hard time swallowing such implausible achievements, but Diana Barnato Walker did all this and more.

Her early life is slightly less impressive, even though her family's wealth and connections set Diana up for her later career. Her father was Woolf Barnato, a famous racing car driver, and she basically took up flying to escape all the 'nannies, governesses, companions and chaperones' of well bred young women. Reading about all the hunting, parties and posh houses of her expensive lifestyle makes Diana sound like a flying Mitford sister, but she really proved her mettle during the Second World War. 'Despite the supposed glamour,' she tells the reader, 'the life was hard for all ATA pilots, not least the women, who had to prove themselves able to do the job as well as the men' (which they did). Two whirlwind romances were also cut short, when Diana's fiance was killed in 1942, and then three years later her husband died in a senseless accident in peace time while ferrying a plane between two airfields. Diana and Derek Walker, 'a leader of men' with a 'swashbuckling step' and 'jutting chin', once delivered two Spitfires across to Brussels in wartime, displaying a truly equal partnership. After losing Derek, Diana never remarried, but did have a son to her married American lover. Fact trumps fiction once again.

If you can adjust to Diana's hale and hearty narrative style, her memoirs are an education and an inspiration to read. The Kindle format needs smoothing out, but at least there are illustrations, which were missing from Whittell's ebook.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
AdonisGuilfoyle | 3 reseñas más. | Dec 28, 2012 |
I really wanted to like this story... ok I did finish it... and I did like the flying anecdotes and war stories. I really had a hard time getting past her seeming obliviousness to her own privilege and the opportunities her wealth afforded her. I suppose that's a British class thing, and as an American I tend to be overly sensitive about it...
 
Denunciada
clif_hiker | 3 reseñas más. | Mar 5, 2011 |
An excellent read. Diana Barnato was a privileged pre-war socialite, granddaughter of one the De Beers diamond brokers founders, daughter of a 'Bentley'. Her early life was one of fast cars, luxury homes and glamorous parties. Having had the opportunity to fly pre-war, she turned that hobby into an important contribution to the war effort, as one of the hundred or so pilots with the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferry planes from factory to airfields.
This biography concentrates on those war years, and she writes with a very easy, natural style, exactly as you would imagine her telling it in person at a family event. Not afraid to make fun of herself, nevertheless she manages to convey the seriousness and danger of the work, not stinting when it comes to dealing with the losses of those close to her. It is, in the end, a personal account, rather than the dealing with the politics of women pilots in that era.… (más)
2 vota
Denunciada
antisyzygy | 3 reseñas más. | Oct 1, 2010 |

Estadísticas

Obras
1
Miembros
32
Popularidad
#430,838
Valoración
3.9
Reseñas
4
ISBNs
4