Constance Ruth Leathart (7 December 1903 – 4 November 1993) was a British female pilot who flew

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

aircraft on transit flights in World War Two 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 factori ...

Early life

Constance Ruth Leathart was born on 7 December 1903 in

Low Fell Low Fell is a suburb of Gateshead situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. Built predominantly on sandstone, grindstone and clay, it is bordered by Sheriff Hill/Deckham to the east, Saltwell/Bensham to the w ...

, County Durham into a wealthy family. She was the only child of Janet Ruth Grant (née Tennant) and Thomas Headley Leathart. Known as Connie, she was educated at

Cheltenham Ladies College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

, and Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate until 1921. She made a life long friend with Susan Slade who she met at the later school, both later becoming pilots.

Flying career

Leathart started flying lessons in 1925 at Newcastle Aero Club. She wrote her name as "C. R. Leathart" on the application form, and was accepted before the club realised her gender. When she received her flying licence in 1927, Leathart became the first British female pilot outside London, and one of the first 20 overall. She started an aircraft repair business, Cramlington Aircraft, with Walter Runciman, later Viscount Runciman, participated successfully in air races with him, and was one of a group of flying socialites. She was "one of the first women to fly over the Alps, in a de Havilland Tiger Moth", and was the first in Great Britain to design and fly a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

. Aircraft owned: *

Sopwith Grasshopper __NOTOC__ The Sopwith Grasshopper was a British two-seat touring biplane built by the Sopwith Aviation and Engineering Company at Kingston upon Thames in 1919.Jackson 1974, p. 309 Development The Grasshopper was a conventional two-seat open-c ...

G-EAIN February 1928 to May 1929 * Westland Widgeon IIIa G-AAJF June 1929 to May 1931 (crashed in Germany) * De Havilland DH.60 Cirrus Moth G-EBRX February 1932 to June 1933 *

Comper Swift The Comper C.L.A.7 Swift is a British 1930s single-seat sporting aircraft produced by Comper Aircraft Company Ltd of Hooton Park, Cheshire. Design and development In March 1929 Flight Lieutenant Nicholas Comper left the Royal Air Force and form ...

G-ABUU April 1934 to May 1940

Air Transport Auxiliary

When World War II broke out she was working in the map department at Bristol Airport and volunteered as one of the first members of the

, female pilots who delivered aircraft from the manufacturers; her instructor in military flying was her cousin John "Jack" Armour. She achieved the ATA rank of Flight Captain, flying heavy bombers as well as fighters to airfields in many countries.

Later life

After the war ended she became a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

special representative to the Greek island of

Icaria Icaria, also spelled Ikaria ( el, Ικαρία), is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. According to tradition, it derives its name from Icarus, the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology, who was be ...

and received an award of merit from the International Union for Child Welfare. She reluctantly gave up flying in 1958 and retired to a farm in Little Bavington,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, where she cared for rescued donkeys. Leathart is buried at Thockrington church; she had requested her grave not be marked, but friends placed as a marker the stone she used to step into her unheated swimming pool every day regardless of weather. Northumberland Archives hold a collection of her papers including a number of photograph albums which record her adventures in aviation from the 1920s to the 1940s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leathart, Constance 1903 births 1993 deaths British aviators British World War II pilots Air Transport Auxiliary pilots British women aviators Women aviators People from County Durham People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College