Margaret Wyndham Gore (24 January 1913 – 20 August 1993), known as Margot Gore, was a leading British aviator and osteopath. She was appointed MBE for her service as a commander in the

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 ...

. She may be the first woman to pilot a

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

. After the war she trained to be an osteopath rising to teach and then sit on the board of the British School of Osteopathy.

Early life

Gore was born in

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

in 1913, and her loves were medicine and flying. Her family moved to Ireland, where she spent her childhood running free with the local hunt and obtaining little formal education. A family maid secretly took her to view

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

' body when he was laid out. When she was sixteen her family moved back to England, and at Bedford High School for Girls she realised her lack of qualifications.

Flying career and Air Transport Auxiliary

She wanted a career in medicine but lacked the academic background. She worked as a secretary at

Smithfield Market Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly Wards of the City of London, ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City in ...

to raise money for flying lessons, and she later undertook subsidised lessons with the Civil Air Guard in 1938 as war became inevitable. She was taught to fly by Gabrielle Patterson, who encouraged her to become a qualified instructor in 1939. In 1940 the

(ATA) agreed to take women pilots and recruits were gathered by

Pauline Gower Pauline Mary de Peauly Gower Fahie (22 July 1910 – 2 March 1947) was a British pilot and writer who established the women's branch of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. Early life and education Pauline Mary de Peauly ...

with an initial eight women pilots. The ATA's role was to deliver aircraft and the

De Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary traine ...

was the first to be entrusted to the ATA's new women pilots at

Hatfield, Hertfordshire Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, 39,201 at the 2011 census, and 41,265 at the 2021 census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House ...

. Gore was not amongst the first eight but she was the tenth and in the next batch to be recruited in June 1940. Gore rose to head the Hamble ATA ferry pool in 1941 with Rosemary Rees as her second in command. Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten, the only Dutch woman pilot in the ATA, flew under her command, as did Maureen Dunlop, an Anglo Argentinian pilot. She was now a flight captain with all female recruits, delivering aircraft as they were manufactured to operational units around the country. She was the first to train on the Halifax bomber and she is believed to be the first woman to pilot an American Flying Fortress. Awarded an MBE in the

1944 New Year Honours The 1944 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 31 December 1943. The recip ...

for her services during the war. In 1945 she was still at Hamble. She was the first recruit to the WAAF Voluntary Reserve branch at White Waltham Airfield when it was formed in 1947.

Later career

Gore still wanted to enter medicine and she studied physics, chemistry and biology in order to enter a course in

Osteopathy Osteopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. In most countries, practitioners of osteopathy are not medically trained and are referred to as osteo ...

. She was given the gold medal as the best student in 1954 after three years at the British School of Osteopathy. She went on to teach at the school and rose to be on the board of the school, and in 1968 she was vice-chairman of the Osteopathic Educational Foundation. She is recognised as one of the key people who shaped the school after the war. Gore died in

Nettlebed Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about north-west of Henley-on-Thames and south-east of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about east of the village. The 2011 Census r ...

in 1993, aged 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gore, Margaret 1913 births 1993 deaths People from Worthing Osteopaths People educated at Bedford High School, Bedfordshire Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire