Diana Barnato Walker (1918–2008)
Autor de Spreading My Wings: One of Britain's Top Women Pilots Tells Her Remarkable Story from Pre-War Flying to Breaking the Sound Barrier
Sobre El Autor
Nota de desambiguación:
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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. - Aviso de desambiguación
- This is the second time I'm entering this biography. Please do not delete again. Thank you!
Miembros
Reseñas
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 1
- Miembros
- 32
- Popularidad
- #430,838
- Valoración
- 3.9
- Reseñas
- 4
- ISBNs
- 4