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Benedetta Willis
Benedetta Willis (born Benedetta Day; 25 January 1914 – December 2008) was one of the first women RAF pilots to get her wings. Life Benedetta Day was born in 1914 in Famagusta, Cyprus. She came to the UK when she was ten. A lifelong interest in flying lead her to the Insurance Flying Club in London. Her husband, Charles Henry Willis, was an instructor there when they met. They married in 1938 and started a family. They also bought a plane. Willis worked as an architect's assistant. When World War II began her husband joined up and encouraged his wife to join the Air Transport Auxiliary. Willis became a First Officer when she joined up on 1 September 1941. She left Air Transport Auxiliary on 3 August 1943, a year after flying her first Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Famagusta, Cyprus
Famagusta ( , ; el, Αμμόχωστος, Ammóchostos, ; tr, Gazimağusa or ) is a city on the east coast of Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice), Famagusta was the island's most important port city and a gateway to trade with the ports of the Levant, from where the Silk Road merchants carried their goods to Western Europe. The old walled city and parts of the modern city are a ''de jure'' territory of Republic of Cyprus, currently under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus as the capital of the Gazimağusa District. Name In antiquity, the town was known as ''Arsinoe'' ( grc, Ἀρσινόη), after the Greek queen Arsinoe II of Egypt, and was mentioned by that name by Strabo. In the 3rd century book Stadiasmus Maris Magni, is written as ''Ammochostos'' (), meaning "hidden in hesand", which is how Greeks still call it. This name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Moggridge
Jackie Moggridge (born Dolores Theresa Sorour; 1 March 1922 – 7 January 2004) was a pioneering pilot, the first woman to do a parachute jump in South Africa and the first female airline captain of scheduled passenger services. Early life Born Dolores Theresa Sorour in Pretoria, South Africa, she decided to call herself Jackie after her sports heroine Jackie Rissik who was famous at the time for playing hockey. She learned to fly and got her ‘A’ flying licence, starting to fly aged fifteen. She became the first woman to do a parachute jump in South Africa aged seventeen. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1938 with the intention of getting her ‘B’ flying licence with the Aeronautical College, Witney, Oxford. Second World War service Like many women interested in flying for the war effort, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force until she could join the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Initially she was based in Rye at a radar station. She was recruited to the ATA by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Transport Auxiliary Pilots
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for liquid water to exist on the Earth's surface, absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night (the diurnal temperature variation). By mole fraction (i.e., by number of molecules), dry air contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere. Air composition, temperature, and atmospheric pressure vary with altitude. Within the atmosphere, air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and breathing of terrestrial animals is found only in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Women Aviators
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Brito ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 Deaths
This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked here. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 See also * Lists of deaths by day The following pages, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar, list the historical events, births, deaths, and holidays and observances of the specified day of the year: Footnotes See also * Leap year * List of calendars * List of non-standard ... * Deaths by year {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1914 Births
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line. Events January * January 1 – The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line in the United States starts services between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, becoming the first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with Tony Jannus (the first federally-licensed pilot) conveying passengers in a Benoist XIV flying boat. Abram C. Pheil, mayor of St. Petersburg, is the first airline passenger, and over 3,000 people witness the first departure. * January 11 – The Sakurajima volcano in Japan begins to erupt, becoming effusive after a very large earthquake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Aviators
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Briton (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julie Ann Gibson
Flight Lieutenant Julie Ann Gibson was the first full-time female pilot for the Royal Air Force when she graduated in 1991. Previously a ground-based officer, later selected for flying training. She was subsequently assigned to No. 32 Squadron RAF flying Hawker Siddeley Andovers, and following her promotion to Flight Lieutenant, Lockheed C-130 Hercules at RAF Lyneham. Career Julie Ann Gibson was born into a military family, her father was a Lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. Because of his military career, Gibson travelled frequently during her childhood as he was posted in different ports around the world. She attended the City, University of London, where she graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. While at University, she had learnt to fly and had joined the associated University Air Squadron. Gibson joined the Royal Air Force College in 1984, and following her officer training, she was posted to RAF Honington in Suffolk. She was i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Hughes
Joan Lily Amelia Hughes, MBE (27 April 1918 – 16 August 1993) was a World War II ferry pilot and one of Britain's first female test pilots. She was considered a capable instructor and flew everything except flying boats. Early life Hughes was born in West Ham, Essex in 1918. Her mother was Lily Amelia Lekeup and her father Arthur Edward Hughes manufactured braids. She and her brother started flying training when she was fifteen and their parents paid the East Anglian Aero Club £2/10s an hour. At that time you could fly a plane at any age and so by 17 had she become the youngest qualified female pilot in Britain. Air Transport Auxiliary As an experienced aviator, Hughes was one of the first eight female pilots accepted into the Air Transport Auxiliary on 1 January 1940 and Hughes was the youngest female pilot to join the service. Hughes initially flew Tiger Moths from Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire and soon Hughes had more than 600 hours' experience ferrying aircraft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freydis Leaf
Freydis Sharland ( Leaf; 22 September 1920 – 24 May 2014) was a pioneering woman pilot and one of the first women to get RAF wings. Early life Freydis Leaf was born in Cambridge to Catherine (Kay-Shuttleworth, her father was Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall) and Charles Leaf. She was the middle child of three: two boys and a girl. Her father was a meteorologist and archaeologist who served in both the First World War, as an Army officer, and the Second World War, as an officer of the Royal Marines; he was, in the meantime, also an Olympic gold-medallist. She was educated at Ancaster Gate school, Bexhill, East Sussex, then Wycombe Abbey school, Buckinghamshire. War-service When her father and brother Derek started to learn to fly in 1937, Freydis insisted on the same opportunity: they all learned to fly at the Marshall flying school in Cambridge. When the war began, Leaf volunteered as a nurse in the Red Cross in Colchester, Essex while trying to get into th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Bird
Jean Lennox Bird (8 July 1912 – 29 April 1957) was a pioneering pilot and the first woman to be awarded RAF wings. Early life Jean Lennox Bird was born in Hong Kong on 8 July 1912, the second daughter of Lt Col. Lennox Godfrey Bird, an architect who designed several buildings in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Her father retired in 1935, and the family returned home, eventually settling at the Old Farm, in Beech, near Alton, Hampshire England. Bird started flying at the age of eighteen and took lessons, alongside her father, at the Hampshire Aeroplane Club in Hamble, during a visit home. Both qualified on 2 October 1930. War service By the time Second World War broke out in 1939 Bird was an experienced pilot. She was commissioned into the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as Assistant Section Officer (ASO) in 1940 and remained there for a year until invited to join the ATA. Bird joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) on 1 August 1941 and soon qualified as a First Officer. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geographically in Western Asia, its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southern European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located north of Egypt, east of Greece, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is ''de facto'' governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was established after the 1974 invasion and which is recognised as a country only by Turkey. The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains include the well-preserved ruins from the Hellenistic period such as Salamis and Kourion, and Cypr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
