Lettice Curtis
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Eleanor Lettice Curtis (1 February 1915 – 21 July 2014) was an English aviator, flight test engineer, air racing pilot, and sportswoman.


Origins

Curtis was born on 1 February 1915 at
Denbury Denbury is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Denbury and Torbryan, in Teignbridge district of Devon, England. The village is situated between Totnes and Newton Abbot, approximately ten miles from Torquay. Denbury Hill (Loc ...
in
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, a daughter of Eleanor Francis (née Master) and Walter Septimus Curtis (born 1871) of Denbury House. Her father was lord of the
manor of Denbury Denbury is an historic Manorialism, manor in Devonshire, England. The manor house, known as ''Denbury Manor'' is situated on the edge of the village of Denbury. Descent Reynell The Manorialism, manor of Denbury was long owned by the Reynell famil ...
, a barrister of
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
Burke's ''Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry'', 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.544, pedigree of "Curtis of Denbury Manor" and a grandson of Matthew Curtis (1807–1887) of Thornfield in the parish of
Heaton Mersey Heaton Mersey is a suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the north-western border of Stockport, adjacent to Didsbury and Burnage which are in the City of Manchester. The suburb is an affluent residential area and c ...
, Lancashire, a leading manufacturer of cotton-spinning machinery in Britain and thrice Mayor of Manchester. She had one brother and five sisters.


Early life

Curtis was educated at
Benenden School Benenden School is a private boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day s ...
and St Hilda's College,
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
where, in addition to studying Mathematics, she was Captain of the University Women's
Lawn Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
and
Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...
teams. She also played
Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
for the University. She learned to fly in 1937 at the
Yapton Yapton is a village and civil parish in the Arun District, Arun District of West Sussex, England, three miles (4.8 km) north east of Bognor Regis at the intersection of the B2132 and B2233 roads. Yapton lies on the coastal plain south west ...
Flying Club,
Ford, West Sussex Ford is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is centred south by south-west of Arundel and west of Worthing. The civil parish very gently slopes to the east, where it has the public track alongside the Ri ...
, earning a B–class licence.


Air Transport Auxiliary

In early July 1940 Curtis became one of the first women pilots to join the British
Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between fac ...
(ATA), remaining with the ATA until 30 November 1945, when the organisation was closed down. left, Five ATA flyers Lettice Curtis, Jenny Broad, Audrey Sale-Barker, Gabrielle Patterson">Audrey_Sale-Barker.html" ;"title="Jenny Broad, Audrey Sale-Barker">Jenny Broad, Audrey Sale-Barker, Gabrielle Patterson and Pauline Gower in 1942 by an Airspeed Oxford trainer She commenced her ATA career by delivering primary training aircraft such as the Tiger Moth, progressing to the Miles Master and North American Harvard advanced trainers. During her ATA service she graduated to fly all categories of wartime aircraft and was one of the first dozen women to qualify to fly four-engined heavy bombers. She was the first woman pilot to deliver an
Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British World War II, Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to ...
bomber and also flew 222
Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...
es and 109
Short Stirling The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the earlier Handley ...
s. She flew continually during World War II from various Ferry Pool locations delivering all types through all weather to various destinations. According to Whittell p. 193–94she flew "thirteen days on, two off, for sixty-two consecutive months", between July 1940 and September 1945. On 26 October 1942 she was introduced to US First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
as the first woman pilot to be trained on four engined bombers, during Roosevelt's visit to the ATA at
White Waltham Airfield White Waltham Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome located at White Waltham, southwest of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. This large grass airfield is best known for its asso ...
in Maidenhead. By that point, Curtis had already flown 90 different types of aircraft. Her final ATA rank was as First Officer.


Post-war life

After the war, Curtis became a technician and flight test observer at the A&AEE military aircraft test establishment at
Boscombe Down MOD Boscombe Down ' is the home of a military aircraft testing site, on the south-eastern outskirts of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The site is managed by QinetiQ, the private defence company created as part of the breakup of the D ...
, moving later to
Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft ...
where she was a senior flight development engineer. She took an active part in British air racing, flying various aircraft including her Wicko and a
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...
XI owned by the American
air attaché An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...
in London. She was a founding member of the British Women Pilots' Association. She qualified to fly helicopters in October 1992 and continued to fly aircraft until voluntarily "grounding" herself in 1995. With the nationalisation of the aircraft industry in the sixties she left Fairey for the
Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...
, working for a number of years on the initial planning of the joint civil/RAF Air Traffic Control Centre at
West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The s ...
. Later under the
United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots and aircraft engineers ...
, she worked for the Flight Operations Directorate. Retiring from the CAA in 1976, she took a job with a firm supplying contractors to the
Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
at Bracknell. Curtis died in
Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...
,
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
on 21 July 2014 at the age of 99.


References


Notes

* Lettice Curtis, ''The Forgotten Pilots'', Nelson & Saunders, Olney, Bucks, 1985, * Lettice Curtis, ''Lettice Curtis - her autobiography'', Red Kite, Walton on Thames, 2004, * Diana Barnato Walker, ''Spreading My Wings'', Patrick Stephens, Yeovil, 1994, *
Giles Whittell Giles Quintin Sykes Whittell (born in March 1966) is an English author and journalist who has worked for ''The Times'' as Correspondent in Russia and the United States. Whittell was educated at Sherborne School and Christ's College, Cambridge (B. ...
, "Spitfire Women of World War II", Harper Perennial, Hammersmith, 2008, {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Lettice 1915 births 2014 deaths Air Transport Auxiliary pilots Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford British women aviators British women in World War II British aviation pioneers Women aviation pioneers English aviators People educated at Benenden School People from Teignbridge (district)