Annette Elizabeth Mahon (21 October 1918 – 7 October 2013) was a pioneering pilot and the only Irish woman member of the Air Transport Auxiliary.

Life

Annette Elizabeth Mahon was born in Dublin on 21 October 1918. She was one of six children. Her father worked in the Post Office. Mahon attended a Sacred Heart convent in Dublin and went on to get a job with an accountancy firm until the war. During her childhood in Dublin there had been a visit from Sir

Alan Cobham Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer. Early life and family As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croyd ...

's Flying Circus and Mahon had taken a ride and for a moment been given control of the airplane. When the war began Mahon moved to Northern Ireland to drive ambulances with the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

in Ulster. There she heard about the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of World War II, the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA Ferry flying, ferried new, repaired and damaged milita ...

and in 1942 she applied for the ATA pilot training. She was accepted and was sent to the Elementary Flying Training School at

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

in Scotland. She was posted to Prestwick once training was complete and ferried planes around the north of Scotland. She gained the name “Queen of the Barracudas” when she began flying

Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barracud ...

s regularly after they entered service in 1943. She was very fond of the aircraft. During the war she flew 12 different aircraft, including Spitfires and got 475 hour flying time. Although Mahon predominately worked as a stay at home mother after the war, in 1973 she volunteered with the group that became the

Royal International Air Tattoo The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world's largest military air show, held annually in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England in support of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust. The show typically attracts a to ...

Fairford Fairford is a town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park. History Evidence o ...

, Gloucestershire.

Personal life

She met her husband, Dr Maurice Hill while in Prestwick. She became ill with influenza and being in a foreign country she had no one to look after her. Hill took care of her for the duration and she later took him flying in her Barracuda and told him he was going to marry her. They were married in 1947 in London. Hill took a job with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority so Mahon moved around the UK with him from Cumbria to Caithness and Hampshire. They had three daughters though one, Elizabeth, died young in 1966. Her husband had a stroke and died in 1996. Mahon died 7 October 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Annette Elizabeth 1918 births 2013 deaths Irish women aviators Air Transport Auxiliary pilots Women in World War II Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen