Plaque honours our ‘Spitfire Girl’
Maidenhead: Dauntless pilot delivered heavy bombers
A Second World War pilot and plane engineer was honoured in Twyford last week with a blue plaque placed at the house where she lived from 1960 to 2014.
Eleanor Lettice Curtis, one of the original ‘Spitfire Girls’, flew over a five hundred planes from factories to RAF stations around the UK throughout the war and was one of the first female pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), based at White Waltham Airfield.
This was in 1940 and trailblazer Lettice, as she was known, was just 25 at the time and impressed all with her flying knowledge, skills and work ethic.
However, it was when a government ruling that said women could not fly operational aircraft was lifted in 1941 that she really came into her own.
Lettice courageously took to the skies, flying a Hurricane to Prestwick, and later she would become the first female pilot to fly a Lancaster and the heavy bomber, the US B-17 Flying Fortress.
Lettice’s flying skills, strong will and strength of character led the way for a handful of other highly skilled female pilots.
Like the rest of the Spitfire Girls, Lettice was relied upon to quickly learn how to fly all types of wartime aircraft, to adapt skills, rely on wit and courage and to focus and just ‘get on with it’.
Known as ‘ferriers’ (pilots who filled in the gaps between factory completion and the frontline) as aircrafts became more complex these handful of women rose to the enormous challenge before them.
Lettice was one of the very few women at the time who could transport the larger, four-engine, heavy bombers and between the war years of 1941-1945 she worked diligently to ensure the planes were delivered on time, often working thirteen days straight and having just two days off before starting again.
Throughout her career Lettice flew aircrafts such as Tiger Moths, Halifaxes, Stirlings and Liberators.
Trips were always made solo, with little training and the pilots relying on compasses and maps for navigation and no radio communication.
The courage, capabilities and the crucial role these pilots played in the war is often overlooked and this plaque goes a long way to recognise Lettice and her contribution in the war effort.
Lettice herself went a long way to raise the profile of the work of the Second World War female pilots in her book, ‘The Forgotten Pilots’, which was also turned into a documentary of the same name.
Some acknowledgement did come their way on October 27, 1942, when the wives of two heads of state, Eleanor Roosevelt and Clementine Churchill, visited the ATA to meet the women pilots.
Lettice, who ‘stood under the wing of a Halifax in the pouring rain’ became the poster girl for the encounter.
After the war, Lettice stayed within the aviation industry, working as a technician and flight test observer; as a developer engineer; for the Civil Aviation Authority and at the Ministry of Aviation as a planner.
Lettice was also a founding member of the British Women Pilots’ Association.
She still loved flying and took part in National Air Races within the Royal Aero Club, placing highly against male pilots in Spitfire races.
Lettice eventually retired from flying aged 80 but not before getting her helicopter pilot’s licence aged 77.
She died in Maidenhead in July 2014 at the age of 99.
At the plaque ceremony on London Road, Twyford, Tish Peal, niece of Lettice, said: “I was delighted and honoured to be asked to unveil the blue plaque commemorating my late aunt’s life.
“She was a remarkable woman who literally set records in aviation during and after World War Two. I’m very grateful to Suzanna Rose and the other benefactors for this memorial.”
After the unveiling a reception for friends, family and aviation professionals was held at the West London Aero Club, White Waltham Airfield, Maidenhead.